Statewide court closures scheduled this week and June canceled

TOPEKA—Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss said today that the four remaining days of statewide court closures and court employees' unpaid furloughs have been canceled, including two days that were scheduled this Thursday and Friday. Two additional statewide court shutdowns were scheduled for June 7-8.

The Chief Justice made the announcement after the Legislature's Sunday night appropriation of enough funding to keep the courtroom doors open for the balance of the current fiscal year, which ends June 30. The $1.1 million in supplemental funding has been rolled into the legislative appropriation bill for FY 2013, which begins July 1. Courts previously were closed statewide and court employees sent home without pay on April 13 after no action was taken on the supplemental funding request before the Legislature adjourned for its annual April break.

Chief Justice Nuss said he advised court employees of the cancelled furlough days in a letter that was sent today and that he will enter a formal order cancelling court closings later this week. He informed the employees that he cancelled on the basis of last night's passage of the appropriation bill. He said he and the other justices of the Supreme Court wanted to advise the employees of the development as soon as possible. "But my colleagues and I wanted you to receive this message as soon as possible. While technically the funds are not assured until Governor Brownback signs the budget bill, I am confident a bill will be signed," Chief Justice Nuss said. He also said the Judicial Branch owed the citizens of Kansas notice of their courts' reopening as soon as possible.

Approximately, 1,590 state court employees and potentially many other Kansans are affected by today's decision cancelling the court closures in 105 counties. Chief Justice Nuss asked Kansans not to expect that trials and hearings previously scheduled for Thursday and Friday, and then cancelled for lack of funds, can now all be held on those days. He said that the required presence of many lawsuit participants such as witnesses, lawyers, parties, and potential jurors make it difficult to conduct them on such short notice. He repeated that the Kansas Judicial Branch "is like an aircraft carrier underway in the open sea, not like a bass boat on a Kansas fishing lake" and cannot be turned quickly. The chief justice stated that the last few months have been extremely challenging for the entire Judicial Branch of Government, as well as for Kansans accessing their justice system.