Reviewing the courts

The Hutchinson (Kan.) News: The Kansas Supreme Court deserves a nod for its initiative to review the entire state’s judicial system to discover unrealized efficiencies.

During the past few years, as the state has continued to struggle with its budget, the judicial branch has found itself faced with the urgent need to raise additional revenue, cut costs or both. The state’s courts have few options to adjust to diminishing revenue, since most of the courts’ budgets are earmarked for staff.

In one case, the court system added $10 to the filing fee for each case, and in another hourly judicial system employees were required to take a four-day furlough. In Reno County, budget crunches have led to shortened public hours and the closing of an entire office, which reopened just this week.

Chief Justice Lawton Nuss told the Associated Press that the judicial branch has grown weary of reacting to bad news from the state and would rather look inside itself to determine ways to best preserve public access and fulfill its obligation to Kansans.

A 24-member commission includes a cross section of people who will review the courts’ use of technology and the flexibility and use of its staff. This comes atop the Supreme Court’s previous decision to examine its caseload in the state to determine where the largest number of cases, and where the more complex cases, are handled.

Nuss said he is hopeful the court’s efforts will be replicated by other state branches that want to root out wasteful, or at the least inefficient, spending of public dollars.

That is something that should be happening on a regular basis anyway.