After years of long drives and courtroom musical chairs across the county, Tracy is finally on track to get its own courthouse back. The latest state budget sets aside early planning money for the New Tracy Courthouse project, a move local leaders on Monday framed as the first real step toward restoring court services to the city.
The old courthouse complex shut down in 2011, leaving south-county residents trekking to Stockton, Manteca and Lodi for everything from jury duty to basic hearings. It has been more than 15 years of that routine, and for many in Tracy, the budget news feels like a long-delayed course correction.
Budget Move Brings Planning Money
The 2026–27 state budget includes $3.503 million in one-time General Fund support for the Performance Criteria phase of the New Tracy Courthouse project, according to SB 111. Legislative language also sets aside roughly $65.85 million for the design-build phase, a crucial pot of money that would carry the project from paper plans to actual construction, per SB 111.
Local officials say the funding signals that the state is serious about getting the project done, even if shovels will not hit the ground immediately.
Plans, Size And The Old Site
Judicial Council planning documents outline a roughly 28,000-square-foot courthouse with two courtrooms, secure judicial parking and solar capacity, according to Judicial Council materials. The new building is slated to replace the shuttered compound at 475 E. 10th Street, a cluster of buildings that opened in 1968 and closed in October 2011.
Since that closure, residents have been funneled to courthouses in neighboring cities for hearings and jury service, a setup that has added travel time and helped slow the system with growing delays and backlogs across the region, reporting shows from Stocktonia.
Officials Cheer The Win, Even As Numbers Differ
San Joaquin County District Attorney Ron Freitas quickly took a victory lap, posting photos and a statement on Facebook praising Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom and saying she “secured $69.3 million” for the Tracy courthouse project.
In a separate release, Ransom called the budget move the opening chapter of a multi-step effort to bring court services back to south San Joaquin County, crediting the Judicial Council and state budget committees for helping push the project along, according to Assemblymember Rhodesia Ransom's office.
The slight differences in how officials characterize the total dollars do not change the bottom line for Tracy residents: for the first time in years, the courthouse project has dedicated funding, a defined scope and a formal place in the state’s construction pipeline.
What Comes Next
Before any construction crews roll up to 10th Street, the Judicial Council must sign off on performance criteria and then move the courthouse into design and procurement. The council’s own timetable will decide how quickly those later phases unfold, according to Judicial Council materials.
Local officials and recent reporting note that reopening a Tracy courthouse would cut travel times for south-county residents and ease caseload pressure at neighboring courts, improving day-to-day access to justice in the region, according to Stocktonia.
