Judiciary asks lawmakers for 29 judgeships, new courtroom technology and a case‑management overhaul

Chief Justice Monica Marquez and State Court Administrator Stephen Vasconcelos told the Joint Judiciary Committee on Jan. 13 that the judicial branch needs new judges, technology and probation staffing to keep pace with caseloads and security needs.

The department asked the General Assembly to approve Senate Bill 25 0 2 4, a two‑year plan to add 29 judges statewide (18 in year one and 11 in year two as introduced), and said it has adjusted the cost estimate for the first year downward from an earlier figure near $13 million to about $9.3 million after correcting personnel assumptions and phasing some furnishing/AV costs with counties.

Vasconcelos said the request is based on updated workload modeling that used time‑and‑motion studies of judicial activities and reflected operational changes since the pandemic. He said the single largest immediate need identified by the department is an additional county court judge in Durango where current filings generate roughly two judges’ worth of work.

The department outlined related budget priorities:

- Virtual courtroom platform: Chief Justice Marquez described a wave of “courtroom disruptor” incidents in virtual hearings — hijacked sessions with abusive audio and pornographic videos — and said the branch requested just under $3 million in cash‑fund spending authority to procure a specialized vendor platform with role‑based access, integrated statutory livestream and record functions, and tighter controls than off‑the‑shelf business meeting tools such as WebEx.

- Case management replacement: Vasconcelos said Colorado’s statewide case management system dates to the late 1980s, is written in RPG, and must be retired. The department closed an RFP for an off‑the‑shelf system customized for Colorado; full statewide launch is not expected until around 2028. To reduce immediate budget pressure, the department supports a one‑year extension of project timelines and funding.

- Probation workload tied to Aurora municipal changes: The department expects roughly 850 additional domestic‑violence probation cases after Aurora stopped prosecuting some offenses in municipal court, primarily affecting Adams and Arapahoe counties; Vasconcelos said the branch requests roughly $2.9 million to fund about two dozen probation staff to manage those cases.

- Security and district support: Marquez said two recently authorized judicial security positions will soon be filled to give on‑the‑ground coverage in Southern Colorado/the Western Slope and Northern Colorado/Eastern Plains; the branch is seeking legislation to extend POST‑certification authority beyond July 2025 for those positions.

Other items Marquez and Vasconcellos described included the March‑April rollout of a revamped Chief Justice Directive to clarify chief judges’ roles and new branch‑wide well‑being initiatives for staff, and the implementation steps for the newly created 23rd Judicial District, which goes live the day after the hearing but will need a final clarifying measure related to a district judicial performance commission.

Why it matters: Committee members pressed the department on cost containment and operational details, noting state budget pressure. The requests map to three persistent problems the department said it cannot control directly: statutory caseload inflows, rising complexity of cases (more virtual proceedings, greater discovery volumes), and local courthouse readiness for new judgeship placements.

What’s next: Committee members signaled follow‑up questions; the department provided a mix of statutory and operational clarifications and asked the JBC to consider phased funding and one‑time cash authority for technology procurement.