TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) Kansas Chief Justice Lawton Nuss is telling a special advisory panel to review the potential consequences to state courts if a funding gap isn’t closed.
Nuss convened the panel Monday to look at the ramifications of a projected $8.25 million shortfall in the judicial branch budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1, 2015.
The shortfall could result in forcing employees to take unpaid leave. Nuss told the panel to prepare for the worst.
State Senate Vice President Jeff King has written to the 10-member council attempting to blunt the perception that legislators are shortchanging the courts.
King says there are options for savings in the system and that legislators are open to reviewing the judiciary’s needs in the 2014 session.
