Signed by Governor Sam Brownback

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that appropriates funds to the judicial branch.

Highlights:

• Authorizes the chief judge of a judicial district to prepare the budget for his or her judicial district beginning June 30, 2016, whereas existing law required a judicial administrator appointed by the Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court to approve and pay for the district court operations (Sec. 2).

• Requires the district court judges to elect the chief district judge, whereas existing law required the state supreme court to designate the chief district judge (Sec. 8).

• Requires the chief justice of the state supreme court to give notice of a vacancy of a district court judge within 120 days of the date of vacancy (Sec. 16).

• Increases court fees for the following services (Secs. 20, 23, 25 & 28):
• $100 to $176 for a petition for expungement effective July 1, 2013 through July 1, 2015;
• $74 to $86 for an action involving a moving traffic violation effective of July 1, 2014;
• $108.50 to $173 for a case involving a decrees in probate from another state beginning July 1, 2014; and
• $156 to $173 for a case filed or docketed in a district court beginning July 1, 2014.

• Appropriates $2 million to the Judicial Branch for judiciary operations for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2015 (Sec. 1).

• Establishes the “electronic filing and management fund” to create, implement, and manage an electronic filing and centralized case management system for the state court system (Sec. 4).

• Requires the state treasurer to deposit $3.1 million in the electronic filing and management fund from the remittance of the balance of docket fees received from the clerks of district court for fiscal years ending June 30, 2015, June 30, 2016, and June 30, 2017 (Sec. 15).

• Requires the state treasurer to deposit $1 million in the electronic filing and management fund from the remittance of the balance of docket fees received from the clerks of district court for fiscal years on or after June 30, 2018 (Sec. 15).

• Specifies that the provisions of this bill are not severable and if a provision of this bill is held to be invalid or unconstitutional than the entire bill must be considered invalid or unconstitutional (Sec. 32).

Full Bill Text