Provide that chief justice appoints the court administrator

Chief justice now appoints court administrator

The chief justice now appoints the court administrator, who serves at the chief justice’s pleasure. The administrator is the top operations officer for the courts and works under the chief justice. Duties include preparing judicial budgets, reporting court data to the legislature on request, aligning court IT with the state plan, and recommending improvements. The administrator also runs legal aid for indigent domestic‑violence victims, state district‑court funding, the pretrial program, the treatment‑court support account, and the judicial‑branch personnel plan. The Supreme Court adopts a personnel plan for most judicial employees (not justices, judges, the Supreme Court administrator, the state law librarian, or the Supreme Court clerk). The plan covers classification and pay, hiring, reviews, training, and promotion. This law takes effect on passage and applies retroactively to any court administrator appointed on or before that date.