Industrial Commission asks for IRIS maintenance funds and staff to clear backlogs

The Industrial Commission requested a mix of ongoing and one-time funding Jan. 23 as it seeks to fund maintenance for its IRIS case-management system, fill vacant positions and resolve payment and adjudication backlogs.

The commission asked the Joint Finance Preparation Committee for 10 enhancement items for fiscal 2026 totaling $298,200 in ongoing requests and $554,200 in one-time requests, using vacant full-time positions where possible, Noah Peterson, budget and policy analyst for the Legislative Services Office, told the panel. Peterson said the agency had 12 vacant FTPs as of August and reverted $4,555,000 to its funds in the most recent year, including $2,400,000 from the Crime Victims Compensation Fund.

The request includes a $288,000 one-time contract for long-term technical support of the IRIS system after the Office of Information Technology Services said it could not provide that support, Peterson said. He described the IRIS program as a multi-year modernization that received $12,874,000 in one-time appropriations between fiscal 2021 and 2025 to digitize previously paper-dependent processes.

Director George Gutierrez said IRIS improved overall business efficiency but also increased the volume and complexity of work carried into downstream units. "IRIS did increase our business system efficiency," Gutierrez said, and the agency is…