Senate Study Bill 1233 - Introduced SENATE FILE _____ BY (PROPOSED COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS BILL BY CHAIRPERSON KRAAYENBRINK) A BILL FOR An Act relating to and making appropriations to the judicial 1 branch. 2 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA: 3 TLSB 1006XC (4) 91 cm/ns
S.F. _____ Section 1. JUDICIAL BRANCH. 1 1. There is appropriated from the general fund of the state 2 to the judicial branch for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 3 2025, and ending June 30, 2026, the following amounts, or so 4 much thereof as is necessary, to be used for the purposes 5 designated: 6 a. For salaries of supreme court justices, appellate court 7 judges, district court judges, district associate judges, 8 associate juvenile judges, associate probate judges, judicial 9 magistrates and staff, state court administrator, clerk of 10 the supreme court, district court administrators, clerks of 11 the district court, juvenile court officers, board of law 12 examiners, board of examiners of shorthand reporters, and 13 commission on judicial qualifications; receipt and disbursement 14 of child support payments; reimbursement of the auditor 15 of state for expenses incurred in completing audits of the 16 offices of the clerks of the district court during the fiscal 17 year beginning July 1, 2025; and maintenance, equipment, and 18 miscellaneous purposes: 19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $201,018,878 20 b. For deposit in the revolving fund created pursuant to 21 section 602.1302, subsection 3, for jury and witness fees, 22 mileage, costs related to summoning jurors, costs and fees for 23 interpreters and translators, and reimbursement of attorney 24 fees paid by the state public defender: 25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 3,600,000 26 c. For payment of expenses for court-ordered services 27 provided to juveniles who are under the supervision of juvenile 28 court services, which expenses are a charge upon the state 29 pursuant to section 232.141, subsection 4: 30 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 3,290,000 31 (1) Of the moneys appropriated in this lettered paragraph, 32 no more than $1,556,000 is allocated to provide school-based 33 supervision of children under chapter 232, of which no more 34 than $25,000 may be used for purposes of training. 35 -1- LSB 1006XC (4) 91 cm/ns 1/ 7
S.F. _____ (2) Notwithstanding section 232.141 or any other provision 1 of law to the contrary, the moneys appropriated in this 2 lettered paragraph shall be distributed to the judicial 3 districts as determined by the state court administrator. The 4 state court administrator shall make the determination of the 5 distribution amounts within thirty days of the date on which 6 the annual census data is released. 7 (3) Notwithstanding chapter 232 or any other provision of 8 law to the contrary, a district or juvenile court shall not 9 order any service which is a charge upon the state pursuant 10 to section 232.141 if there are insufficient court-ordered 11 services moneys available in the district court distribution 12 amounts to pay for the service. The chief juvenile court 13 officer shall encourage use of the moneys appropriated in this 14 lettered paragraph such that there are sufficient moneys to pay 15 for all court-ordered services during the entire fiscal year. 16 The chief juvenile court officer shall attempt to anticipate 17 potential surpluses and shortfalls in the distribution amounts 18 and shall cooperatively request the state court administrator 19 to transfer moneys between the judicial districts distribution 20 amounts as prudent. 21 (4) Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, 22 a district or juvenile court shall not order a county to pay 23 for any service provided to a juvenile pursuant to an order 24 entered under chapter 232 which is a charge upon the state 25 under section 232.141, subsection 4. 26 (5) Of the moneys appropriated in this lettered paragraph, 27 no more than $83,000 may be used by the judicial branch 28 for administration of the requirements under this lettered 29 paragraph. 30 (6) Of the moneys appropriated in this lettered paragraph, 31 an amount not to exceed the actual cost of the annual 32 membership fee is allocated to the judicial branch to support 33 the interstate commission for juveniles in accordance with 34 the interstate compact for juveniles as provided in section 35 -2- LSB 1006XC (4) 91 cm/ns 2/ 7
S.F. _____ 232.173. 1 (7) Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys appropriated in 2 this lettered paragraph that remain unencumbered or unobligated 3 at the close of the fiscal year shall not revert but shall 4 remain available for expenditure for the purposes designated 5 until the close of the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2028. 6 d. For juvenile delinquent graduated sanctions services 7 pursuant to section 232.192: 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 12,253,000 9 (1) Any state moneys saved as a result of efforts by 10 juvenile court services to earn a federal fund match pursuant 11 to Tit. IV-E of the federal Family First Prevention Services 12 Act of 2018, Pub. L. No. 115-123, for juvenile court services 13 administration is appropriated to the judicial branch for 14 purposes of this lettered paragraph. 15 (2) Notwithstanding section 8.33, moneys appropriated in 16 this lettered paragraph that remain unencumbered or unobligated 17 at the close of the fiscal year shall not revert but shall 18 remain available for expenditure for the purposes designated 19 until the close of the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2028. 20 e. For the creation of the business court of Iowa in 21 accordance with 2025 Iowa Acts, Senate File 639, if enacted, 22 including salaries, support, maintenance, and miscellaneous 23 purposes: 24 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . $ 500,000 25 2. The judicial branch, except for purposes of internal 26 processing, shall use the current state budget system, the 27 state payroll system, and the Iowa finance and accounting 28 system in administration of programs and payments for services, 29 and shall not duplicate the state payroll, accounting, and 30 budgeting systems. 31 3. The judicial branch shall submit monthly financial 32 statements to the legislative services agency and the 33 department of management containing all appropriated accounts 34 in the same manner as provided in the monthly financial status 35 -3- LSB 1006XC (4) 91 cm/ns 3/ 7
S.F. _____ reports and personal services usage reports of the department 1 of administrative services. The monthly financial statements 2 shall include a comparison of the dollars and percentage 3 spent of budgeted versus actual revenues and expenditures on 4 a cumulative basis for full-time equivalent positions and 5 dollars. 6 4. The judicial branch shall focus efforts upon the 7 collection of delinquent fines, penalties, court costs, fees, 8 surcharges, or similar amounts. 9 5. It is the intent of the general assembly that the offices 10 of the clerks of the district court operate in all 99 counties 11 and be accessible to the public as much as is reasonably 12 possible in order to address the relative needs of the citizens 13 of each county. An office of the clerk of the district court 14 shall be open regular courthouse hours. 15 6. In addition to the requirements for transfers under 16 section 8.39, the judicial branch shall not change the 17 appropriations from the amounts appropriated to the judicial 18 branch in this Act, unless notice of the revisions is given to 19 the legislative services agency prior to the effective date. 20 The notice shall include information on the judicial branchs 21 rationale for making the changes and details concerning the 22 workload and performance measures upon which the changes are 23 based. 24 7. The judicial branch shall submit a semiannual update to 25 the legislative services agency and department of management 26 specifying the amounts of fines, surcharges, and court costs 27 collected using the Iowa court information system since the 28 last report. The judicial branch shall continue to facilitate 29 the sharing of vital sentencing and other information with 30 other state departments and governmental agencies involved in 31 the criminal justice system through the Iowa court information 32 system. 33 8. The judicial branch shall provide a report to the general 34 assembly and department of management by January 1, 2026, 35 -4- LSB 1006XC (4) 91 cm/ns 4/ 7
S.F. _____ concerning the amounts received and expended from the court 1 technology and modernization fund created in section 602.8108, 2 subsection 7, during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2024, 3 and ending June 30, 2025, and the plans for expenditures from 4 the fund during the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and 5 ending June 30, 2026. 6 Sec. 2. CIVIL TRIALS LOCATION. Notwithstanding any 7 provision to the contrary, for the fiscal year beginning July 8 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026, if all parties in a case 9 agree, a civil trial including a jury trial may take place in a 10 county contiguous to the county with proper jurisdiction, even 11 if the contiguous county is located in an adjacent judicial 12 district or judicial election district. If the trial is moved 13 pursuant to this section, court personnel shall treat the case 14 as if a change of venue occurred. 15 Sec. 3. TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT. Notwithstanding section 16 602.1509, for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2025, and 17 ending June 30, 2026, a judicial officer may waive travel 18 reimbursement for any travel outside the judicial officers 19 county of residence to conduct official judicial business. 20 Sec. 4. JUDICIAL OFFICER UNPAID LEAVE. Notwithstanding 21 the annual salary rates for judicial officers established by 22 2024 Iowa Acts, chapter 1153, section 6, for the fiscal year 23 beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026, the supreme 24 court may by order place all judicial officers on unpaid leave 25 status on any day employees of the judicial branch are placed 26 on temporary layoff status. The biweekly pay of the judicial 27 officers shall be reduced accordingly for the pay period in 28 which the unpaid leave date occurred in the same manner as 29 for noncontract employees of the judicial branch. Through 30 the course of the fiscal year, the judicial branch may use an 31 amount equal to the aggregate amount of salary reductions due 32 to the judicial officer unpaid leave days for any purpose other 33 than for judicial salaries. 34 Sec. 5. IOWA COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK. It is the intent 35 -5- LSB 1006XC (4) 91 cm/ns 5/ 7
S.F. _____ of the general assembly that the judicial branch utilize 1 the Iowa communications network or other secure electronic 2 communications in lieu of traveling for the fiscal year 3 beginning July 1, 2025, and ending June 30, 2026. 4 EXPLANATION 5 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with 6 the explanations substance by the members of the general assembly. 7 This bill relates to and makes appropriations to the 8 judicial branch. 9 The bill appropriates moneys from the general fund 10 of the state for FY 2025-2026 to the judicial branch for 11 salaries, receipt and disbursement of child support payments, 12 reimbursement of the auditor of state, maintenance, equipment, 13 miscellaneous purposes, deposit in the revolving fund created 14 pursuant to Code section 602.1302(3) for certain purposes, 15 payment of court-ordered juvenile services, juvenile delinquent 16 graduated sanctions services, and the business court of Iowa. 17 The bill provides that a civil trial including a jury trial 18 may take place in a county contiguous to the county with proper 19 jurisdiction, even if the contiguous county is located in an 20 adjacent judicial district or judicial election district, if 21 all the parties in a case agree. If a trial is moved to another 22 county that is located in another judicial district or judicial 23 election district, the judicial officers serving the judicial 24 district or judicial election district receiving the case shall 25 preside over the case. 26 The bill permits a judicial officer to waive travel 27 reimbursement for any travel outside the judicial officers 28 county of residence to conduct official business. 29 The bill allows a judicial officer to be placed on unpaid 30 leave on any day a court employee is required to furlough. 31 The bill provides that if a judicial officer is placed on 32 unpaid leave, the salary of the judicial officer shall be 33 reduced accordingly for the pay period in which the unpaid 34 leave occurred. The bill provides that the judicial branch 35 -6- LSB 1006XC (4) 91 cm/ns 6/ 7
S.F. _____ may use an amount equal to the aggregate amount of the salary 1 reductions due to judicial officer unpaid leave for any purpose 2 other than judicial salaries. 3 The bill states legislative intent that the judicial 4 branch utilize the Iowa communications network or other secure 5 electronic communications in lieu of traveling. 6 -7- LSB 1006XC (4) 91 cm/ns 7/ 7