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Committees fund judicial department staff at 2023 legislative salary levels, rejecting higher reclassification proposal
Summary
The joint committees declined the Judicial Branch’s proposed compensation schedule and instead approved funding consistent with the 2023 Legislature’s salary funding levels for non-elected judicial positions, producing several million dollars in biennial savings and additional reporting requirements.
The Senate Committee on Finance and the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means voted on May 1 to reject the Judicial Branch’s larger proposed compensation and reclassification schedule and to fund judicial department staff salaries for the 2025–27 biennium at levels consistent with the 2023 Legislature’s approved budget.
Stephanie Day of the Legislative Counsel Bureau’s Fiscal Analysis Division told the committees that the Judicial Branch’s request included a proposed living-wage compensation schedule and reclassification of many positions; the branch’s adjusted-base budget would have funded 208 positions at higher maximums than the 2023 appropriations. The Judicial Branch requested what the packet described as funding that would result in total base salaries and benefits larger than those the Legislature had previously approved.
“Funding the 208 positions consistent with the funding level approved by the 2023 Legislature would result in savings of $3,300,000 over the 2025–27 biennium compared to the funding level recommended by the judicial branch,” Stephanie Day reported to the committees.
After debate, committee members voted to not approve option 1 (the Judicial Branch’s higher proposed schedule) and to approve option 2 — funding consistent with the 2023 Legislature’s salary levels — and to not approve the Judicial Branch’s requested additional $1.3 million per year that would have expanded the compensation schedule further.
Why it matters: The decision limits the Judicial Branch’s discretionary increase to staff pay and aligns the branch’s salary funding with the prior legislative appropriation. Committees also directed enhanced quarterly reporting and required that future budget submissions include individual position data in the state budget system so officials and fiscal staff can calculate salaries and fringe costs more transparently.
Ending
Fiscal staff was granted authority to make implementing technical changes; the committees’ direction and reporting requirements will be incorporated into budget documents and the Appropriations Act.
