The greatest assets of the judicial branch of government are the people who work for all Kansans in the pursuit of justice — the judges, their staff members and the employees of the courts.
However, Kansans may not realize that their state’s courts have not been adequately funded for years. Even before the pandemic, the Kansas judicial system was lagging far behind other states in the overall financial support of its courts.
This lack of financial support has a direct and negative impact on the lives of Kansans who appear before our courts, who work in our justice system or who have loved ones relying on the Kansas courts. For some, their lives and livelihoods hang in the balance.
Like any employer, the state of Kansas must provide competitive and comparable wages to retain and recruit all its employees. Judicial employee pay has stagnated. According to a July 2020 National Center for State Courts survey, salaries for our district court judges ranks 48th out of all 50 states, and are not comparable to any of our neighboring states. In fact, some areas of Kansas are seeing fewer judicial applicants for openings and have lost good candidates for judgeships, as well as support staff, to our neighboring states.
Employee salaries are also uncompetitive. Judicial branch employee salaries range from 2.7% to 18.9% below market average. And currently, the court system is severely understaffed. To save money from lost filing fee revenue because of the pandemic, the courts have had to leave many positions vacant.
The judicial branch generates revenue for the state of Kansas and local governments. In fiscal year 2020, judicial employees collected almost $50 million for the state — roughly one-third of the entire judicial budget that year. Historically, our courts collected more in fines, fees, restitution, judgments and bonds than their entire annual budget. The dollars that don’t go to state government are then transitioned to local governments, victims, litigants and law enforcement and prosecutor programs.
The annual discussion by the Kansas Legislature on the budget to support the Kansas judicial branch is underway. As with most government agencies, as well as service-oriented private companies, a high percentage of the budget is used to pay personnel. But there are few personnel as essential to the functioning of our state as those in the judicial branch.
The pandemic has put a bright light on the budget issue we have in our Kansas courts. While the budget of the state judicial branch is rarely a high-profile topic for the public at large, it is vital this year that everyone becomes more aware of the real needs of their courts, so that justice for all Kansans continues in a fair and expedient manner. The continued underfunding of our courts will negatively impact all residents of the state at some point in the future, if it hasn’t already.
I encourage Kansans to connect with their state legislators now, to let them know that a well-funded judiciary is a priority and critical to fair and timely justice. You can find who represents you in Topeka at ksleglookup.org.
Mandi Hunter is the founder of the Hunter Law Group and a member of the board of directors of the Mainstream Coalition. This article appeared in last week’s, Kansas City Star.
