About Us
The Idaho Supreme Court for FY2024 requests carryover spending authority for projects funded by an appropriation from the Coronavirus State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The Court in FY2023 received a one-time appropriation of $19.99 million with an understanding that carryover spending authority would be submitted annually over the 2 ½-year period the U.S. Treasury has granted for the use of these funds.
ARPA & the Courts
Like many other areas of society, Idaho’s courts increasingly rely on technology in almost all aspects of proceedings. In 2023, services such as remote hearings are now a key part of broadening public access to justice. Courts use technological efficiencies to address case backlogs resulting from the previous years’ pandemic. ARPA support is thus targeted at enhancing a robust, timely, impartial and fair court system for the public.
Work to date has included developing compliance and reporting processes and allocating judicial district funding for mediation and court navigation services. The Court now anticipates moving quickly to implement its ARPA projects and programs, including:
- Statewide deployment of courthouse computer networks dedicated to court processes.
- Migration of key software to cloud-hosted services.
- Field technicians employed by the Court and stationed in each judicial district to support technology needs and the network deployments.
- Cybersecurity protections.
- Software to support county workers who may need to access both court and county computer programs.
- Software, licensing, and courtroom improvements for remote and hybrid courts, both for videoconferencing and streaming for public access.
- Laptops and other devices to enable remote work and court services.
- Implementation of court programs and software in each judicial district to address case backlogs.