Court of Appeals official explains commuting costs, shared security contract and cloud move

Trent Brown, representing the Court of Appeals, briefed the subcommittee that the House made few substantive changes to the Court of Appeals budget but did add $2,000 per employee in one line. He asked the committee to clarify two items: a $40,000 line to fund commuting expenses for a newly seated judge, and shared security and IT costs.

Brown said a judge who began service in January is a long-distance commuter and the $40,000 figure reflects the estimated annual commuting cost that was not included in earlier amended budgets. "We funded the first half of fiscal '26 on our own commuting judge," Brown said, adding the $40,000 represents an annualized figure to fully fund that position.

Members also questioned a security contract the Court of Appeals shares with the Supreme Court. Brown explained the $62,050 figure covers the Court of Appeals' portion of a shared security director under that agreement; CFO Chris Walker added that some contract arrangements changed recently (Stan was contracted through the Department of Corrections and began being contracted directly on Jan. 1). The court is also planning a technology transition described as a move from hardware-based redundancy to cloud services, which accounts for a separate budget line for licenses and migration costs.

Committee members asked staff to follow up on exact contract splits and whether shared obligations were apportioned evenly; Brown and the CFO agreed to verify the allocation.