JBC delays new $3.2M judicial IT cash request, flags TABOR and reserve issues
March 13, 2026 | 2026 Legislature CO, Colorado
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The Joint Budget Committee on Thursday declined to add a $3.2 million cash-fund appropriation to the Judicial Branch’s IT capital request and approved staff recommendations aimed at managing the project’s broader budgetary risks.
Miss Bickel, the staff presenter, told members that the department has been working with an advisory vendor and “really won't know till the summer which piece of the project they're gonna do first,” and that the branch already has about $10.7 million in prior appropriations that remain uncommitted. Given the uncertainty, she said she recommended against adding the $3.2 million now.
The committee voted to accept the staff recommendation on the IT capital item and to extend a waiver of the cash-fund uncommitted-reserve limit through fiscal year 2829 so the branch can spend down existing balances while the project is scoped. Vice Chair Bridges moved the staff recommendation, which passed on a voice vote.
Staff also warned of TABOR consequences from increasing cash-funded revenue and of the courts’ reliance on decades-old software; Miss Bickel described court and probation systems running on legacy code such as Fortran and COBOL and said that limited querying and duplicate entry have reduced data quality. She called modernization “critical for the branch” but pressed members to weigh the fiscal and TABOR impacts before approving additional cash-funded authority.
Committee members pressed for clearer project scoping from the branch and for a staged approach to spending. Rep. Taggart questioned roughly $4.6 million in prior spending during the discovery and advisory phases; Miss Bickel said much of that covered the discovery process and a $1.4 million advisory vendor contract.
What happens next: staff will monitor the advisory vendor’s RFP timeline and return with more precise scope and timing; any further appropriation is likely to be considered only after the branch can specify which project components will proceed first.
Miss Bickel, the staff presenter, told members that the department has been working with an advisory vendor and “really won't know till the summer which piece of the project they're gonna do first,” and that the branch already has about $10.7 million in prior appropriations that remain uncommitted. Given the uncertainty, she said she recommended against adding the $3.2 million now.
The committee voted to accept the staff recommendation on the IT capital item and to extend a waiver of the cash-fund uncommitted-reserve limit through fiscal year 2829 so the branch can spend down existing balances while the project is scoped. Vice Chair Bridges moved the staff recommendation, which passed on a voice vote.
Staff also warned of TABOR consequences from increasing cash-funded revenue and of the courts’ reliance on decades-old software; Miss Bickel described court and probation systems running on legacy code such as Fortran and COBOL and said that limited querying and duplicate entry have reduced data quality. She called modernization “critical for the branch” but pressed members to weigh the fiscal and TABOR impacts before approving additional cash-funded authority.
Committee members pressed for clearer project scoping from the branch and for a staged approach to spending. Rep. Taggart questioned roughly $4.6 million in prior spending during the discovery and advisory phases; Miss Bickel said much of that covered the discovery process and a $1.4 million advisory vendor contract.
What happens next: staff will monitor the advisory vendor’s RFP timeline and return with more precise scope and timing; any further appropriation is likely to be considered only after the branch can specify which project components will proceed first.
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