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Committee recommends due‑pass on pay increase for judges to address recruitment, retention
Summary
House Bill 322, which would raise judicial salaries across Idaho’s court system, received a due‑pass recommendation from the Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee. Court representatives said judicial pay lags market rates and cited declining applicant pools and judge departures; the committee approved sending the bill to the floor.
BOISE, Idaho — The Senate Judiciary and Rules Committee voted to recommend a due pass for House Bill 322, a measure that raises judicial salaries across Idaho’s courts as part of an effort to improve recruitment and retention.
Senator Todd Lakey, R‑District 23, presented the bill and asked the committee to consider the proposal as a step toward making Idaho judges’ compensation competitive with experienced attorneys in both the public and private sectors.
Jason Spellman, legal counsel at the Administrative Office of the Courts, told the committee the judiciary conducted a market study showing judicial pay in Idaho trails compensation paid to experienced attorneys and judges in neighboring states. "Noncompetitive compensation is routinely cited as a reason that experienced attorneys are not applying for positions on the bench," Spellman said. He told senators the applicant pool for a typical vacant district judge seat has fallen from an average of 11 applicants five years ago to about 4.6 today.
Spellman said four of nine judges who retired in the current fiscal year have left the bench and returned to other legal careers rather than continuing in senior judge roles or retiring completely — a departure from recent patterns.
House Bill 322 raises the Supreme Court justice base and preserves the existing statutory differentials among the appellate, district and magistrate levels. Spellman described current and proposed salaries (in thousands): presently a Supreme Court justice is compensated about $169.5K, Court of Appeals $161.5K, district judges $155.5K and magistrates $147.75K. Under the bill those figures would move to about $180.65K for the Supreme Court, $178.5K for the Court of Appeals, $172.5K for district judges and $164.5K for magistrates.
The Judicial Branch previously requested larger increases (approximately $45,000 per position in the initial market‑based ask) to close the gap to market targets; Spellman said the current bill provides a smaller increase (about $17,000 to lower‑tier judges) but represents progress toward competitiveness.
Senators asked questions about the size of the original request, the market data, and how the increases might affect recruitment. Several members spoke in support. Senator Foreman moved the committee’s due‑pass recommendation; the motion was seconded by Senator Lent and approved by voice vote. The chair later announced House Bill 322 will be sent to the Senate floor with a due‑pass recommendation.
Votes at a glance: Committee approved a motion to send House Bill 322 to the floor with a due‑pass recommendation by voice vote; the chair declared the motion passed. (Transcript records a voice vote; roll‑call counts were not specified in the hearing record.)
