The conference committee on Senate Bill 2002 met to compare the House and Senate versions of the judicial branch budget and to begin negotiating differences, focusing on salary adjustments, new staff positions and several program funding changes.

Representatives and senators opened the meeting by reviewing the long sheets prepared by Legislative Council that compare the House and Senate versions. Representative Hansen walked the committee through the House changes and their rationale: "That was, 1 of the major changes we made. We added just over $2,000,000 to that line item," referring to an increase to the judicial branch compensation grid for nonjudicial employees.

The change matters because it would move the branch'wide compensation grid closer to market midpoint and add targeted funds for judges. Representative Hansen said the House added about $2,000,000 to bring nonjudicial employees to just under a 5% midpoint increase and separately increased the judges and justices line by $236,000 so that those salaries reach the midpoint nationally. She summarized the percentages the House included: "This would represent an 11.1 increase for the Supreme Court Justices, a 12.1% increase for the chief justice, and a 7.7 increase for the district judges." The committee noted, however, that judicial salaries for judges, justices and referees are set by statute and thus treated differently from other judicial branch employees.

On staffing, the House added 1.5 full-time-equivalent positions at a cost the transcript lists as $237,000 for juvenile court support, converting existing part-time staff in Fargo and Grand Forks to fuller positions and increasing a part-time Supreme Court administrative assistant to full time. Representative Hansen also described the House'moved funding and four FTEs for a new Office of Guardianship and Conservatorship tied to Senate Bill 2029: "There are 2 existing employees in the judicial branch that work on guardianship issues. And so there is a transition period... there is a 9 month transition date." The House placed the new office as a standalone entity with its own oversight rather than embedding it inside the judicial branch, and moved roughly $1,200,000 and four staff into that standalone office in its version.

The committee discussed the House'funded additions of three problem'solving treatment courts (a mental health court in Mandan, a veterans court in Fargo and an Indian child welfare court in Devil's Lake) that Representative Hansen described as a small investment with a high return on investment. The House also moved to increase ongoing funding for interpreters (from the Senate'listed $60,000 to the House'requested full amount), expand the family mediation program and increase funding for Guardian ad Litem services; transcript phrasing for some of those dollar amounts is not fully specified in the record.

On one-time items and funding sources, the House shifted several line items from general fund to state infrastructure or capital funds (the transcript uses the shorthand SIF and CIF). The committee also debated courtroom audio and video funding: the House proposed a larger, roughly $1.5 million allocation to begin a rotating replacement schedule and to leave a contingency for equipment failures; the Senate described a more gradual five'year approach.

For payment processing, the conference packet shows the Senate had included $200,000 for credit-card processing fees. The House removed that appropriation and instead added policy language (noted in "section 8" of the bill text during the meeting) authorizing the judicial branch to charge a service fee to cover credit or debit card processing costs when accepting payments for fines and fees.

Committee members asked clarifying questions about several items and about the interplay between Senate Bill 2002 and Senate Bill 2029 (the guardianship office). Chairman Thomas said the committees were not far apart on judges' salary increases and that the conference group would continue to seek middle ground. There were no formal votes in this meeting; the committee agreed to schedule a follow'up conference to resolve differences.

Representative Hansen summed up operational items included in the House's operating-cost line as "travel, food and clothing, miscellaneous supplies, office supplies, postage, printing, office furniture and equipment, insurance, equipment rent, building rent, repairs... some IT costs." Chairman Thomas closed the meeting by directing staff to continue negotiations and scheduling, saying in the record, "With that, I will, I will close the conference on, 02/2002."