Industrial Commission seeks ongoing staff pay, IRIS support and vehicle replacements amid rising caseloads and reverted funds

The Joint Finance Preparation Committee on Jan. 23 reviewed the Industrial Commission’s request for fiscal 2026 funding, with the commission asking to fill positions using vacant authorized full‑time positions, to cover maintenance for its IRIS case‑management project and to replace four high‑mileage field vehicles.

Why it matters: The Industrial Commission oversees workers’ compensation adjudication, rehabilitation services and the Crime Victims Compensation program. Committee members pressed the commission on recurring reverted appropriations, continuing IRIS (a multi‑year automation project), case backlog and operational capacity to pay crime‑victim claims in a timely manner.

Noah Peterson, budget and policy analyst with the Legislative Services Office, told the committee the Industrial Commission has 130.25 FTP allocated (70.5 in the compensation program, 47.25 in rehabilitation and 12.5 in the crime victims program) and reported 12 vacant positions as of August. Peterson said the agency expended about two‑thirds of its budget on personnel (64.8% in FY24) with operating costs (~20%) and trustee/benefit payments (~15%) making up most of the remainder. He noted the commission reverted $4,555,000 in the prior year; the largest driver was trustee and benefit payments ($3,000,000), of which $2,400,000 came from the crime victims compensation program. Personnel reversion was $644,000; operating reversion $835,000; and capital reversion $55,000.

Peterson summarized the commission’s IRIS project, saying the agency received $12,874,000 of one‑time appropriations between FY21 and FY25 to digitize paper processes. He said the FY25 request included a $3.5 million one‑time appropriation largely tied to IRIS and that the FY26 package contains 10…