‘Sustained investments’ needed to maintain a quality judicial system, say administrators

There is a common refrain that public defenders are overworked and underpaid.

That still holds true, says Kevin Kajer, chief administrator of the Board of Public Defense, who made the board’s 2026-27 budget request to the House Judiciary Finance and Civil Law Committee Tuesday. The judicial branch budget request was also discussed.

Board of Public Defense

Despite increases in the 2024-25 biennium that raised the salaries of state public defenders, there is still significant burnout and a high attrition rate, Kajer said.

To address these issues, Kajer pitched a $26.7 million 2026-27 budget increase to the committee. A 2023 law provided $319.24 million in total funding for the current biennium.

“We cannot slide back,” he said.

Public defender caseloads are about 2.5-3 times national workload standards, he said.

And attorneys are limited in what they can do for clients because they have on average only 4.5 hours to work on each case, he said.

The specific request from the General Fund is:

• $14.4 million to hire more staff;
• $11.9 million for personnel costs, including salary increases; and
• $423,000 to fund public defender corporations such as community legal defense services.

[MORE: View the Board of Public Defense presentation]

Judicial branch request

“Sustained investments” are needed to maintain the quality of the state’s judicial system, said Jeff Shorba, state court administrator.

The judicial branch’s request is a $112.1 million increase to operate the state’s court system in the 2026-27 biennium.

The biggest ticket item is $77.3 million to maintain core functions for 322 judges and approximately 2,850 employees of the Supreme Court, the Appeals Court, and 87 district courts. Much of that money would go toward a 6% salary increase for those judges and court employees.

[MORE: View Judicial Branch presentation]

Other areas in the General Fund request are:

• $18.5 million for an increase in jury per diem/mileage;
• $7.2 million for forensic examiner rate increase;
• $5.1 million digital accessibility; and
• $4 million for justice partner access.

“Jurors are the cornerstone of our justice system,” Shorba said.

People cannot participate as jurors because the current reimbursement of $20 per day doesn’t come close to covering their extra costs such as child care and time off from work, he said. The request would make that $100 per day.