Subcommittee forwards FY27 judiciary operating budget to legislative finance

The Senate Finance Subcommittee on the Judiciary on April 15 advanced the judiciary’s fiscal year 2027 operating budget to the Legislative Finance Division after a brief review of the narrative closeout report.

"In front of you is the narrative closeout report," said Kelly Goode, staff to Senator Olson, as she read the subcommittee’s funding totals and staffing counts. Goode reported unrestricted general funds of $159,228,000, other funds of $2,812,000 and federal funds of $1,805,000; those figures imply a combined total of $163,845,000 when added from the amounts read aloud. Goode also said positions total 755 full‑time, 38 part‑time and 6 temporary, for 799 positions overall.

The subcommittee approved the judiciary’s original budget request and included several additional, limited requests: funding for lease increases, salary and benefits adjustments for therapeutic court paralegals, and a small travel allocation. Goode said the subcommittee did not accept the House increment related to the visitor case log.

Chair Kawasaki moved to forward the FY27 operating budget for the judiciary from subcommittee with the attached Legislative Finance budget action sheet dated 04/15/26 and to authorize the Legislative Finance Division to make any technical or conforming changes. "Are there any objections?" the chair asked; "Hearing and seeing none, the motion carries," the chair declared.

The chair and staff briefly noted that some figures in the oral presentation contained punctuation or decimal inconsistencies in the readback; the chair clarified the likely intended numeric values during the meeting. The subcommittee adjourned at 5:48 p.m.

Next steps: the Legislative Finance Division will process the action sheet and make any technical or conforming adjustments as authorized by the subcommittee. No formal roll-call vote was recorded in the transcript; the chair characterized the motion as carried with no objections.