IS MONEY THE SOLUTION?

‘Please put justice first’: Harris County district judges warn of ‘Harvey’-level court backlog amid budget cuts

 

By Melissa Enaje                  

 

Community Impact 

Sep 9, 2025 

 

Harris County Commissioners Court is weighing how to offset at least $102 million in cuts before adopting the fiscal year 2025-26 budget on Sept. 18.

  

An increasing jail population, court backlog delays and slower case processing are among the potential consequences Harris County judges and other judicial officials warned commissioners about Sept. 9 if several initiatives go unfunded.

Harris County commissioners and department leaders are weighing how to offset at least $102 million in cuts before adopting the fiscal year 2025-26 budget Sept. 18. Factors impacting county department cuts in the budget process, according to the proposed FY 2025-26 budget document, include jail costs and indigent defense costs.

Harris County Criminal Court Judge Stacy Barrow serves on the 487th district court and asked Commissioners Court to fund $2.2 million toward the associate judge program, which covers 12 staff positions and serves several court functions, judges said, including assisting with case processing, handling bond cases and covering court dockets during weekends and holiday shifts.

“I stand with my colleagues in support of the collective good of our community ...,” Barrow said. “Our request today is [for] Commissioners Court is to partner with us in progress to fund the felony associate judge program for an additional year in response to the shift in [the] criminal justice landscape.”

Explained

Several Harris County judges brought up multiple judicial initiatives in need of funding during the court meeting, in addition to the $2.2 million associate judge program. Initiatives included the emergency relief docket to reduce pretrial detention and out-of-county jail contracts, salary adjustments for the 14 family and juvenile court associate judges and a $1.7 million language access plan.

What else

339th Criminal District Court Judge Te’iva Bell told commissioners that the number of individuals who are in custody is rising and court dockets are growing, compounded by a newly-expanded bail law that took effect Sept. 1, she said.

“If we delay in making a decision until we figure things out, we’ll end up in the same situation we had in Harvey,” Bell said. “It has taken a lot of work from all of us to get to where we are now.”

Senate Bill 9 was signed into law June 3 and expanded a 2021 state law that limited eligibility for low-cost personal bonds, as previously reported by Community Impact. Defendants will have to meet a higher bond if accused of unlawful possession of a firearm, violation of a family violence protective order, terroristic threat, or murder as a result of manufacturing or delivering fentanyl.

“As our dockets grow, we face losing the only tool we have available to help manage this increase,” Bell said. “We cannot afford to waste money knowing that we just went through this problem.”

What residents should know

Commissioners are expected to vote on the FY 2025-26 budget and tax rates during the Sept. 18 court meeting.