Chief Justice to give State of the Judiciary January 22

TOPEKA—Chief Justice Lawton R. Nuss will give his State of the Kansas Judiciary address at 12:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 22, from the courtroom of the Supreme Court in the Kansas Judicial Center, Topeka.

He will give the address to an invited audience that will include Kansas legislators, Judicial Branch employees and key constituent groups.

Chief Justice Nuss’ State of the Judiciary address is believed to be the first in Kansas’ 153-year history to be delivered from the courtroom of the Supreme Court.

Nuss decided to speak from the courtroom in part to make it available via webcast to address the public’s heightened interest in an $8.25 million shortfall in the Judicial Branch base budget in fiscal year 2015, which begins July 1, 2014. Ninety-six percent of the Judicial Branch’s budget is for salaries and wages. If the shortfall isn’t solved, court employees will be sent home without pay—closing courts and impacting Kansans statewide.

Kansas law requires Nuss, as chief justice of the Supreme Court, to provide a written report at the beginning of the legislative session to the governor and to the judiciary committees of both houses of the Legislature. The written report will be delivered in addition to his State of the Kansas Judiciary address.