Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee reviews DLS decision document, moves to adopt report

The Public Safety and Administration Subcommittee reviewed the Department of Legislative Services (DLS) decision document and related green-packet items, with DLS analysts presenting recommended position deletions, funding reductions and reporting requirements across state public-safety and administrative agencies. Delegate Jazz Lewis presided and moved to adopt the full report; a second was recorded but the transcript does not show a formal roll-call vote or recorded outcome.

DLS outlined dozens of recommendations for agency-specific adjustments and new committee narratives. For the Judiciary, DLS recommended abolishing five proposed positions — a circuit court judge position, a courtroom clerk, a law clerk and two case manager positions — and proposed raising the turnover rate for new positions from 5.72% to 25%. DLS also proposed across-the-board reductions and restrictions in multiple Judiciary line items, including a $600,000 reduction to align duplicate equipment expenses with fiscal 2024 actuals, a $670,000 reduction to contractual salary increases, and restrictions on land-records and public defender program appropriations. The DLS analyst presented these items as part of…