The Iowa Judicial Branch said it is fixing computer programming errors that led to more than $26 million in court debt collections being sent to the wrong funds.
“The judicial branch is committed to correcting these issues,” reads a statement released Friday. “It is working with all stakeholders to fix its case management system and remedy previous distributions.”
According to the judicial branch, when they became aware of the potential errors, the judicial branch hired the National Center for State Courts to review Iowa’s court debt distributions and recommend solutions. The center’s report — dated July 2023 — found some incorrect distributions. The report also said it wasn’t clear if other distributions were correct because of complicated and potentially conflicting state laws governing where the money is supposed to go.
“Currently the judicial branch’s IT department and legal personnel are correcting programming errors and conducting testing to ensure money collected is distributed as required by the Iowa Code,” the judicial branch statement reads.
Judicial branch documents say $22.7 million went into the wrong state funds, and $3.9 million went to non-state funds controlled by local governments. Those amounts represent 4.5% and 0.6% of the total court debt collections from fiscal years 2021 to 2024.
This problem is not entirely of the judiciary’s own making, but partially due to legislators demanding very quick changes.Rob Sand, state auditor
The judicial branch said it has been working to fix the court debt distribution errors since the beginning of this year, and it anticipates completing the work this fall.
On Oct. 17, Iowa Department of Management Director Kraig Paulsen said it was his understanding that the money was still being incorrectly distributed.
Paulsen and Iowa House Speaker Pat Grassley, both Republicans, recently sent letters to Democratic State Auditor Rob Sand accusing him of not taking action after learning of potential issues with court debt collections two years ago.
Sand’s office said Iowa Code requires the auditor to keep information related to audits and allegations of misconduct confidential until a report is issued.
“The judicial branch should be commended for its transparency and bringing forward plans to resolve problems with the coding used to distribute court debt,” Sand said in a statement Friday. “They have clearly stated how this process has unfolded thus far — something the auditor’s office is statutorily prohibited from doing. This problem is not entirely of the judiciary’s own making, but partially due to legislators demanding very quick changes, and rather than mischaracterize facts, legislators should work to reallocate the money as only legislators can do.”
Grassley questioned why the incorrect distributions were not mentioned in audits of the judicial branch from fiscal years 2021 and 2022.
In a letter to Grassley dated Monday, Sand said he learned about the potential issues in fiscal year 2023.
“We have been following the ongoing efforts at judicial to understand and remedy these issues — but legally, we haven’t been allowed to tell you about them,” he wrote.
Sand said his office has not yet issued the fiscal year 2023 judicial branch audit. He said his office will review the final figures when they’re submitted by the judicial branch and report any issues in the fiscal year 2023 reports on the judicial branch and the clerks of court.
“This was always going to happen, regardless of you inserting yourself,” Sand wrote.
Sand called on Grassley to repeal the law limiting his authority and to publicly apologize to his staff that works on the judicial branch audit.
