Kansas Senate sends judicial transparency bill to governor

Gov. Sam Brownback will have to decide whether to sign a bill that will require him to disclose the names of applicants for the Kansas Court of Appeals.

The provision is one component of SB 128, a bill that supporters say will bring more transparency to the way judges are selected. The Senate passed it 35-3 on Sunday.

The bill, which now goes to the governor, also makes the Kansas Supreme Court Nominating Commission, the special panel that selects nominees for the state’s highest court, subject to the Kansas open records and meetings acts.

“The more the public knows about the nominating process for the selection of judges and justices, the better off we are,” said Senate Vice President Jeff King, R-Independence, an attorney and one of the legislation’s main supporters.

King said the bill will let the public know what the nominating commission’s considerations are for selecting justices. And requiring the governor to release the names of Court of Appeals applicants will give the public insight into his decision-making.

Brownback refused to release the names of applicants when he made appointments to the Court of Appeals in 2013 and 2015, the first appointments after the governor was given sole authority over the choice.

The nominating commission for the Supreme Court is made up of four members appointed by the governor and five elected by the state’s practicing attorneys.

The bill will require the clerk of the Kansas Supreme Court to submit a list of the attorneys to the secretary of state’s office prior to an election of attorney members, a provision that had been opposed by the Kansas Bar Association and Democratic lawmakers.

Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, originally an opponent of the bill, said he decided to vote for the bill because “the good in it outweighs the bad,” noting that lawmakers scrapped a controversial provision that would have given the governor more sway over the selection of the nominating commission.

This story was originally published May 1, 2016 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Kansas Senate sends judicial transparency bill to governor."