Judicial branch asks for judges, court reporters and continued court-technology funding; court technology modernization ongoing

Keith Bybee, Division Manager of Budget and Policy Analysis, opened the court-operations budget review and said the Judicial Branch’s court operations budget is divided into seven programs and that the Court Technology Fund is primarily supported by filing fees. "Year over year collections in that area are up by 29% for the core technology fund," he said, noting fund balance and ARPA-funded work on court technology.

Sarah Omanson, administrative director of the courts, told the Joint Finance Preparation Committee that the courts have been implementing a multi-year technology and cybersecurity modernization that moves court email, document processing and other systems into cloud-hosted services and improves network security in courthouses. "We started really focusing on cybersecurity," Omanson said, describing measures including multi-factor authentication, an Idaho-specific state court network in each courthouse and Office 365 rollout for court business.

Why it matters: the budget request affects how quickly cases can be processed, whether counties and the Judicial Branch can sustain cybersecurity protections, and whether courts have the judicial capacity to handle…