The state Legislature approved a nearly $114.5 billion budget for FY 2026-27 on May 29. The spending plan now on Gov. Ron DeSantis’s desk includes some, but not all, of the priorities put forth by the courts during the budget negotiation process.
DeSantis has a month to veto items and sign the budget.
The court system accounts for less than 1% of the state budget.
In the trial courts, the approved budget includes $2.7 million for four FTEs, or full-time equivalent positions, to partially fund a state court system proposal to begin a two-year project to modernize case management technology. The courts requested $27.4 million and 47 FTEs, mostly IT technicians, to pay for the first year.
The budget agreement also includes $937,000 to hire deputy Supreme Court marshals to coordinate judicial security statewide with the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.
The budget agreement includes $273,000 for courthouse furnishings for the trial courts.
Lawmakers agreed to appropriate $1 million to fix faulty elevators in the historic Supreme Court building in Tallahassee, where court personnel have occasionally been stranded.
The budget includes $13 million for architectural and engineering services, construction management and site preparation for a new 6th District Court of Appeal courthouse. The court is currently operating in leased office space.
The money would also be used to hire part-time deputy marshals for the 6th DCA, where court administrators say lack of a permanent court facility poses security issues.
The enhancements were recommended by a Supreme Court workgroup on judicial security that Chief Justice Carlos Muñiz created in March 2025. The order directed the workgroup to review an increase in threats against judges, and to recommend a response.
Chaired by 4th Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Lance Day, the 10-person panel comprised judges, court administrators and marshals.
Some court spending priorities did not make it into the budget agreement.
Lawmakers declined to fund an approximately $12 million request for 25 new trial court judgeships — 13 circuit and 12 county judges — that the Supreme Court certified in a November 2025 order.
Justices noted that when a case-weighted formula was updated two years ago, it indicated a need for 48 new trial judgeships.
Also not included in the approved budget is a $4.6 million request for nearly 50 new case managers to help trial judges monitor cases and meet new, stricter litigation deadlines.