Judiciary committee refers bill to Appropriations after hours of testimony on court delays

The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to refer a bill seeking additional judges and judicial support to the Joint Budget Committee’s Appropriations Committee after witnesses described extended delays across Colorado courts and widespread strain on judges and litigants.

Committee members held a hearing on Jan. 20 in which the bill’s sponsors and witnesses — including Chief Justice Monica Marquez of the Colorado Supreme Court, district and county judges, district attorneys and legal-services advocates — said judicial workloads have outpaced current staffing and are causing long waits for criminal, family, juvenile and civil cases.

Chief Justice Monica Marquez, testifying as the judicial branch’s primary advocate for the measure, called it “the department’s top legislative priority this year” and told the committee the proposal would not meet the branch’s full need but would provide targeted relief. “Even if fully funded, it would bring us up to a floor of 87% across our districts,” Marquez said, using figures prepared by the branch.

Several court officers described concrete effects in their jurisdictions. Erin Sokol, chief judge of the 4th Judicial District, asked the committee to support four new district judges for El Paso County and said the district now “has around 3,000 citizens who come through our doors” in Colorado Springs every day. Sokol warned that felony trials are “stacking…5 to 15 deep on every single trial week” and that some criminal cases risk being lost to speedy-trial deadlines.

Ryan Stewart, chief judge of the newly created 23rd Judicial District, said the new district has been handicapped by insufficient judicial officers and noted the unexpected time burden created by police body-camera evidence: “These videos…can include hours of interrogations or entire encounters,” he said, adding that trials and hearings take longer and push other dockets back.

Denver domestic-relations judge Marie Avery Moses and Adams County Judge Courtney Donnell described the effects on family-law and eviction dockets. Moses shared a week from her calendar to illustrate how many self‑represented litigants appear on domestic relations dockets and said in many cases judges now have only minutes to address parenting and financial disputes after months or years of delay. Donnell described misdemeanor and eviction dockets bleeding into long days for litigants who may wait hours before their case is reached.

Family-law and juvenile advocates, including Kayla Zillman of the Colorado Bar Association Family Law Section and Melanie Jordan of the Bar’s Juvenile Law Section, urged support for the bill to protect children and families, citing federal timelines for dependency hearings and repeated continuances that leave families waiting. Melissa Thompson, director of the Office of Respondent Parents’ Counsel, gave one termination-of-parental-rights case as an example that took 11 months of staggered hearings before the petition was withdrawn and the parent reunited with the child.

George Brockler, district attorney for the 23rd Judicial District, said timely and predictable courts reduce the likelihood that disputes escalate into criminal matters and urged investment in capacity where growth has outpaced judicial staffing. Matt Baca of Colorado Legal Services and Anne Angiardi of the Colorado Commission on Judicial Discipline described higher caseloads, growing complaints and judge burnout that threaten recruitment and retention.

Committee members asked several procedural and fiscal questions. Vice Chair Wiseman and others asked how the branch would prioritize placements if the Legislature could not fund the full request. Chief Justice Marquez said the branch was willing to work offline with legislators on prioritization. Senators also asked about remote-court options and facility space; witnesses said remote dockets work well for some matters (child support, some domestic-relations dockets) but raise constitutional and confrontation issues in criminal trials.

After closing remarks from sponsors emphasizing the policy’s urgency and its tension with a tight statewide budget, the committee considered a motion to refer the bill to the Appropriations Committee. Senator Roberts moved the referral; the roll-call vote was: Ball — Aye; Carson — No; Kipp — Yes; Frizzell — Aye; Roberts — Aye; Wiseman — Aye; Chair — Aye. The motion passed 6 to 1 and the bill was referred to Appropriations for fiscal consideration.

The next steps for the proposal are budget negotiations in the Appropriations Committee and the Joint Budget Committee; committee members repeatedly noted the state’s fiscal constraints and said funding remains the core obstacle to enacting the bill.

Ending: Supporters said the measure is a targeted first step to ease chronic delays in Colorado’s courts; opponents and some members signaled they would await detailed fiscal analysis before final votes.