Industrial Commission requests IRIS maintenance, staff increases as vacancies and reversions persist

The Industrial Commission told the Joint Finance Preparation Committee on Thursday, Jan. 23, that it is seeking funding for ongoing maintenance of the IRIS case-management system, several personnel enhancements using vacant FTP, and replacement field vehicles as it works through vacancies and sizable reversions from FY2024.

The request matters because the Industrial Commission administers workers' compensation adjudication, vocational rehabilitation and the crime victims compensation program — programs that pay benefits to injured workers and victims and that rely on timely case processing and payments. Committee analysts and the director warned the panel that gaps in staffing and continuing contract needs for IRIS have lengthened processing times for hearings and payments.

Noah Peterson, budget and policy analyst for the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the Industrial Commission has 130.25 authorized FTP and had 12 vacant positions as of August. Peterson said between FY2021 and FY2025 the commission received about $12,874,000 in one-time appropriations for the IRIS modernization project and that the agency is now seeking ongoing and one-time amounts to support the completed development work. “This is essentially to support the IRIS contract ongoing even though it's a one-time request,” Peterson said, explaining the agency originally expected the Office of Information Technology Services to provide long-term support but that ITS is not able to do so at this time.

Director George Gutierrez, who accompanied commissioners and staff to the hearing, described where case-processing workload has increased following IRIS implementation. He said certain tasks that previously fell to referees have been shifted back to adjudication associates and legal staff to ensure incoming electronic records are complete before hearings. “What has happened is more cases — we're getting a better understanding of the compliance value of each case and it's pushing more cases down the line,” Gutierrez said, describing a rise in employer-compliance investigations and preparatory legal work that the commission must staff.

Peterson and Gutierrez provided several quantitative details: the commission averaged expending about 80% of its total appropriation over the prior five years; it reverted $4,555,000 in the most recent year with about $3,000,000 attributable to trustee and benefit payments (roughly $2,400,000 coming from the crime victims compensation program). Peterson said last year's reversion included $644,000 in personnel costs and $835,000 in operating expenses. The commission's fiscal presentation lists four dedicated funds that support its work: the Industrial Administration Fund, the Peace Officer Temporary Disability Fund, the Crime Victims Compensation Fund and a Miscellaneous Revenue Fund.

Peterson summarized the FY2026 request as 10 enhancement items totaling $298,200 in ongoing increases and $554,200 in one-time requests, with no new FTPs requested because the agency plans to use vacant FTPs to fill positions. Key enhancement requests described during the hearing included:

- a senior financial technician in the fiscal department ($66,500 ongoing) to reduce the turnaround time for crime victims compensation payments (the office previously reported nearly 872 outstanding payments and an estimated 12-week turnaround at the time of a budget submission); - a rehabilitation field consultant for Twin Falls/Burley to address a caseload about 35% above the five-year average (about $32,300 ongoing to increase hourly funding for an FTP); - a referee position to adjudicate workers' compensation and crime victim appeals ($111,600 ongoing); - reclassification of five adjudication associates (about $25,500 ongoing) to reflect higher required skills under IRIS workflows; - a technical records specialist for employer compliance ($62,300 ongoing); and - IRIS-related maintenance and contingency funding, including a $288,000 one-time request for contracted technical support and a $30,000 one-time contingency recommended by ITS.

The commission also seeks replacement vehicles: four small SUVs for field staff, noting mileage on existing vehicles ranges from about 82,000 to 98,000 miles and model years are roughly 2006–2011. Director Gutierrez said the field offices rely on those vehicles and that recurring mechanical failures have created reliability and safety concerns.

Peterson described a FY2025 supplemental mechanics request reported in the LBB: a net-zero transfer of $47,000 that reallocates a portion of previously appropriated one-time IRIS funds to the Peace Officer Temporary Disability Fund; the reallocation reduced the Industrial Administration Fund and the Crime Victims Compensation Fund by smaller amounts to ensure monies are used for statutorily designated purposes. Gutierrez told the committee that most of the commission's reversions were trustee-and-benefit payments and that the agency lacks unilateral authority to move those funds into other categories without legislative approval.

Committee members pressed for additional detail. Senator Cook and Representative Tanner asked for a line-item breakdown of prior IRIS expenditures and long-term maintenance costs; Peterson and Gutierrez said they would provide a written breakdown. Representative Petzke asked whether reverted funds could be used to fill positions; Gutierrez replied that most reversions were for trustee and benefits and would require legislative action to repurpose. On reclassification and technical-staff requests, Gutierrez said IRIS increased the volume of electronic data and the number of cases identified for enforcement, creating upstream work preparing matters for outside counsel in the Attorney General's civil litigation division.

No formal action or vote was taken by the committee during this hearing. The governor's recommendation shown in the LBB includes a 5% CEC (cost-of-living/commissioner compensation) placeholder for commissioners and does not recommend the commission's contingency fund request. The commission closed by asking for the committee's support for its FY2026 budget requests and offered to supply additional IRIS cost breakdowns on follow-up.

The committee requested more documentation on IRIS expenditures, a county-by-county vehicle list, and further explanation of how reverted trustee and benefit funds can be used going forward.