Judiciary presses for magistrate and district judges; continues ARPA‑funded court technology and cybersecurity upgrades

The Joint Finance Preparation Committee on Jan. 23 reviewed the Judicial Branch’s Court Operations budget, focusing on courthouse cybersecurity and infrastructure upgrades funded with federal ARPA dollars and requests for additional judges driven by population growth and heavy magistrate caseloads.

Budget analyst Keith Bybee told the committee the courts have carried significant one‑time ARPA investments to modernize court technology and to harden networks. The Judicial Branch received about $19.9 million in ARPA State Fiscal Recovery funds for court technology work; approximately $16 million of remaining obligations were included as a re‑appropriation in the maintenance bill, and the branch expects to continue spending that balance as contracted work proceeds. Bybee said court technology fund collections also rose from about $2.9 million in FY2023 to $3.4 million in FY2024, driven largely by filing fee activity.

Administrative Director Sarah Omanson described the technology program as a multi‑year effort that began in 2020 to improve cybersecurity, centralize court networks in each courthouse and roll out Microsoft 365 and other protections. “We realized that our infrastructure was preventing us from adequately securing the information that we thought we needed to…