Senate Judiciary debates budget priorities, from victim advocates to sheriff pay

The Senate Judiciary Committee spent the latter portion of its session reviewing a draft budget letter and weighing which funding items to prioritize when sending recommendations to appropriations.

Chair and committee members checked accuracy of the draft and discussed several standing requests: elimination of vacancy savings for state's attorneys and sheriffs, operating expense asks, victim‑services funding, and a paralegal position for the Human Rights Commission. The Chair asked members to confirm what the House had included so the committee could accurately recommend items to appropriations.

Members discussed the Attorney General's request for an $85,000 "home improvement specialist" position (transcribed) and agreed to follow up on missing presentation materials. The committee also considered funding for a statewide supervised‑visitation system in the Department for Children and Families and debated inflationary increases and one‑time vs. base requests.

A prominent debate concerned defender/assigned counsel funding and sheriff/transport deputy pay rates. Committee members reviewed current and proposed hourly rates (transcribed discussion included $53–$57 current ranges, a House‑level increase referenced in the budget and an industry request up to $75/hour). Several members said a large jump to $75/hour would be difficult to fund; others proposed more modest increases (for example, to about $60/hour) to avoid effectively reducing pay in real terms due to inflation.

Committee members proposed prioritizing additional victim‑advocate positions and supervised‑visitation funding while being cautious about large base increases elsewhere. The Chair said she would edit the draft letter over the weekend and circulate it to members; the committee did not finalize the list during this session.