Judiciary seeks magistrates, continues court technology build‑out with ARPA funds; governor proposes 5% judicial compensation placeholder

The Joint Finance Preparation Committee on Jan. 23 heard the Judicial Branch’s Court Operations budget presentation, where court leaders described an ongoing multi‑year technology modernization funded with ARPA appropriations, recent growth in filing fees in the Court Technology Fund and requests for additional judges to address rising caseloads.

Why it matters: Court technology upgrades, staffing and judicial resources affect case timeliness statewide, the security of party and witness data, and county court operations. The judiciary’s FY26 request also includes judges and a judicial compensation bill that would require statutory or separate policy action.

Keith Bybee, Division Manager of Budget Policy Analysis, told the committee the Judicial Department is a unified court system administered by the Idaho Supreme Court. The Court Operations budget divides into programs including the Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, district and magistrate courts, the Water Adjudication Division, Community Based Substance Abuse Treatment and senior judges. Bybee said the courts average about 372 authorized full‑time positions and historically spend roughly 90–93% of personnel appropriations.

Bybee highlighted the Court Technology Fund, which is primarily financed by district and magistrate filing fees, and reported that collections grew from about $2.9 million in FY23 to about $3.4 million in FY24 (a ~29% increase). He said the courts carry a fund balance (about $18.8 million) and project working cash receipts of about $21.5 million in FY26, and several ARPA‑funded technology contracts (roughly $19.9 million originally appropriated) remain in…