Guardian ad Litem warns cuts would disrupt child representation as subcommittee reviews $12 million budget
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Summary
The Guardian ad Litem (GAL) office told the appropriations subcommittee that proposed reductions — including 1.5 attorney FTEs and a CASA coordinator — could affect hundreds of children and hundreds of hearings; the director urged holding positions vacant rather than cutting funded slots.
The Utah Appropriations Subcommittee heard testimony on Wednesday from Gary Sifu of the Legislative Fiscal Analyst and Stacy Snyder, director of the Office of Guardian ad Litem and CASA, about the office’s budget and the likely effect of proposed reductions.
Snyder described the office as a statewide operation that employs roughly 50 Guardian ad Litem attorneys within an approximately $12,000,000 appropriation and provides statewide CASA (court‑appointed special advocate) coordination and training. “We are an office, a statewide office that is housed within the judiciary,” she said, and emphasized that most of the office’s appropriation supports personnel and training to meet national standards.
The director outlined several recent and proposed changes. Last year the Legislature provided a $1,100,000 appropriation aimed at salary parity and turnover, and the office is requesting a one‑time $300,000 item. Snyder also said the office will increase conflict‑guardian pay from $50 an hour to $100 an hour with a case cap increase from $1,000 to $3,000 to ensure private attorneys will accept assignments when internal conflicts arise. She noted that FY25 included 643 volunteers who logged 30,127 hours of service across the state.
Snyder warned that the committee’s proposed savings — the elimination of 1.5 attorney positions, 1.5 legal assistant positions and one CASA coordinator — would reduce capacity and likely disrupt services. She estimated that at the high end those reductions could affect about 362 children and require coverage of roughly 763 additional hearings by other offices, increasing caseloads and undermining morale. “My recommendation is that if this committee does choose to eliminate positions or make reductions, that you allow us to hold those positions vacant rather than limiting the funded positions,” she told lawmakers.
LFA staff confirmed the scale of the office’s budget and the predominance of personnel costs. Committee members asked whether travel, conferences or other non‑personnel line items could be trimmed; Snyder said her office has already reduced nonessential costs in past cycles and that in‑person training remains a priority to ensure consistent, high‑quality advocacy.
The committee did not take a vote on any GAL budget actions at the hearing. The agency said it will supply additional materials and stand ready to work with staff on alternatives that minimize the impact on direct services to children.
