Senate panel approves $163.8 million judiciary budget with lease, staff additions

The Senate Finance Subcommittee on the Judiciary approved a $163.8 million operating budget for Alaska's court system on April 15, 2026, adding three funding requests that were not in the original budget.

The budget includes $159.2 million in unrestricted general funds, $2.8 million in other funds, and $1.8 million in federal funds. The judiciary will be authorized for 799 positions: 755 full-time, 38 part-time, and 6 temporary.

The subcommittee added $600,300 for lease increases, $115,500 for salary and benefits for therapeutic court paralegals, and $6,000 for travel. Those three items had been requested by the judiciary but were not included in the original budget. Kelly Good, staff to Senator Olson, said the panel approved the judiciary's original budget request and included three additional requests that the judiciary made that were not in the original budget.

The panel did not accept a House increment of $363,000 for a visitor case log.

Senator Kawasaki moved to advance the fiscal year 2027 operating budget from subcommittee with an attached legislative finance action sheet dated April 15, 2026. The motion also gave the Legislative Finance Division authority to make technical or conforming changes. Kawasaki asked if there were any objections. Hearing and seeing none, the motion carried.

The budget now moves to the full Senate Finance Committee. The meeting was chaired by Senator Kawasaki, with Subcommittee Chair Olson and Senator Myers present. Senator Clayman was expected to arrive later. Chloe Miller was the moderator.