Judiciary requests more staff and funding for treatment/mental-health courts and juvenile facilities; some opioid and pretrial funding reduced in governor rec.
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Summary
Supreme Court clerk Betsy Ledgerwood told legislators the judiciary needs additional FTEs for juvenile detention, mental-health courts and language access; the governor recommended some requests but cut opioid treatment funding and did not approve several NDIs; the judiciary says statutory pay obligations constrain options.
Betsy Ledgerwood, clerk of the Missouri Supreme Court, told the House Budget Committee that the judiciary's FY27 request emphasizes statutory obligations (including judges' compensation tied to federal benchmarks), treatment courts, and investments in case-management systems.
Ledgerwood said the branch is "overall less than 2% of general revenue for the state of Missouri," and highlighted continuing infrastructure needs and staffing pressures that are largely statutory in nature. She told the committee the judiciary faces rising costs tied to interpreter services, juvenile detention staffing, and court-appointed supports.
Interpreter services: Ledgerwood said changes last year made the state responsible for payment of civil and criminal interpreter services; the judiciary overspent its appropriation and requested a supplemental to cover the difference. The governor did not recommend the supplemental, Ledgerwood said, adding that courts have covered overruns using vacancy savings and internal reprioritization.
Treatment and mental-health courts: the judiciary asked for general revenue transfers to expand treatment‑court resources and for a separate allocation to recognize mental‑health courts (which several circuits have piloted). Ledgerwood said 10 circuits already run mental‑health dockets; the judiciary requested staff and allocations to formalize standards and provide statewide support. The governor recommended that treatment‑court program dollars be funded in the transfer but did not recommend an NDI to create a standalone core for mental‑health courts.
Juvenile detention and certified youth: the judiciary described changes in the detained population (older and more complex cases after certification/raise‑the‑age changes), requesting additional juvenile staff, mental‑health contractors and security personnel for detention centers. Several of those NDIs were not recommended by the governor.
Opioid and pretrial funding: the governor recommended reducing $250,000 of opioid‑related funds used for medically assisted treatment in treatment courts; Ledgerwood said the cut could reduce medications or wraparound services unless alternate funding is found. The governor also cut a planned expansion of statewide pretrial programs and removed several federal FTEs the judiciary had sought to carry forward.
Why it matters: many requested increases reflect statutory or court‑ordered duties (language access, judge compensation) or program expansions the judiciary argues produce downstream savings (treatment courts and pretrial assessments). Lawmakers questioned where the judiciary could find internal offsets; Ledgerwood offered to work with the committee on targeted tradeoffs.
Next steps: the judiciary will supply more detailed lists (for example, detention center locations and juvenile incident data) and indicated willingness to confer about offsets and targeting of limited state funds.