Judicial Branch outlines ARPA‑funded technology upgrades and requests new judges for Twin Falls, Bonneville

The Judicial Branch told the Joint Finance‑Appropriations Committee on Jan. 23 that a multi‑year technology modernization funded largely with ARPA dollars is underway and that the branch is requesting new magistrate judges to reduce heavy caseloads in Twin Falls and Bonneville counties.

Keith Bybee, division manager of Budget and Policy Analysis, outlined the court operations budget and told the committee “the Core Technology Fund is driven primarily on, filing fees, with district and magistrate courts.” He said the core technology fund’s collections rose from about $2.9 million in fiscal 2023 to $3.4 million in fiscal 2024 and that the courts carry a working cash balance; the branch projects roughly $21.5 million in receipts in future years.

Administrative Director Sarah Omensson described the courts’ multi‑year effort to harden cybersecurity and migrate systems to cloud services. “We started really focusing on cybersecurity,” she told the committee, citing concerns about court systems nationally and the sensitive records courts hold. Omensson said the branch is rolling out multi‑factor authentication, Office 365 and a state court network to help secure and centralize court computing and said Office 365 rollout is “about 80% rolled out.” She added the project is largely contracted and that roughly $16 million of ARPA‑funded contracts were being re‑appropriated into later fiscal years for implementation work.

The courts asked for new judicial resources in fiscal 2026: two district judges (with court reporters) and two magistrate judges — including one magistrate in Twin Falls and one in Bonneville County — at a total build cost presented as about $1.2 million. Bybee said the governor left a 5% judicial compensation placeholder in the budget, while the judiciary’s own compensation request was larger and will require statutory action by policy committees.

Omensson gave caseload context for the magistrate requests: she said there are 249 workdays per year and that magistrates in Twin Falls open on average about 1,773 cases per judge annually; magistrates in Bonneville open about 1,539 cases per judge. She told the committee Twin Falls had not received a new magistrate in 35 years and that judges from neighboring counties travel in to cover hearings, which reduces available judicial workdays. The branch estimated judges traveling into Bonneville lose about 67.5 days of judicial time annually because of travel.

Committee members asked for details about the ARPA obligations, vendor strategy and hiring. Bybee and Omensson said the ARPA obligations are largely contracted and that about $16 million has been identified for re‑appropriation for ongoing implementation. Omensson said the Idaho Supreme Court will issue a request for information (RFI) to survey the case‑management vendor landscape; the branch currently uses Tyler and is in year two of a five‑year contract but said it wants to understand alternative options and better customization paths.

Omensson also described recruitment challenges for judicial and technical staff: since July 1 the branch had seven judges announce retirements or departures; the branch reported fewer applicants for judgeships than five years ago and said only about one in five applicants currently have civil private practice experience, which she said reduces bench breadth and slows case resolution.

The committee did not take a vote at the hearing. Members requested written breakdowns of ARPA‑contract expenditures, a summary of the case management development and a staffing‑and‑compensation gap analysis so the committee can evaluate the requested judgeship and compensation proposals as policy bills move through the Legislature.