Kan. justice warns of periodic court closures

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WICHITA, Kan. (AP) -- The Legislature will begin work in January to address budget problems that court officials are warning could lead to state courts shutting down one week each month.

But House Majority Leader Mike O'Neal, R-Hutchinson, said it could take work to at least get court closings and furloughs reduced to a few days instead of weeks.

At issue is a mistake made during the 2009 session. The Senate cut the judicial branch by $11 million under the mistaken assumption that the funds could be made up through surcharges on docket fees that were approved in other legislation. But the surcharges had been capped at $10 per fee. The two bills should have been resolved in a conference committee, O'Neal said.

The problem has been known about since spring, but the state's worsening financial condition makes fixing it tricky.

And Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Davis said Friday that the weeklong shutdowns would be needed if the Legislature fails to restore $8 million in budget cuts. He said in a letter to court employees that the closures would start in February.

Staff would be placed on unpaid leave, but judges would still be paid because the state constitution prohibits the Legislature or anybody else from reducing judges' salaries.

They would perform duties with mandated deadlines, such as first appearances in criminal cases. But judges wouldn't deal with matters such as marriage licenses and wills that don't have mandated deadlines, said Ron Keefover, court spokesman.

He said shutting the courtroom doors for a week would be "draconian."

"We've already taken draconian measures" to cover the shortfall, he said.

Those measures include a hiring freeze that is credited with saving $1.2 million during the fiscal year.

But O'Neal said he was hopeful.

"Because everybody agrees that was an unintended consequence, we're going to try to do everything we can to restore as much of that as we can," he said.