Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2015-008

April 17, 2015
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2015- 8
The Honorable John Carmichael
State Representative, 92nd District
State Capitol, 451-S
300 SW 10th Avenue
Topeka, Kansas 66612
Re: 	Courts—Supreme 	Court—Budget 	for 	the 	Judicial 	Branch 	of 	State
Government; Preparation; Submission
State 	Departments; 	Public 	Officers 	and 	Employees—Department 	of
Administration—Governor’s 	Budget 	Report; 	Contents; 	Submission 	to
Legislature
Synopsis: 	K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(f) requires that the Judiciary’s budget estimate as
submitted to the Director of the Budget shall be included in the governor’s
budget report. 	However, K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(f) does not vitiate the
governor’s obligation pursuant to K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(b) to include a
budget message, a recommendation, and draft legislation in the Governor’s
Budget Report on each state agency budget estimate as a starting point for
the Legislature in the appropriations process. Cited herein: K.S.A. 20-158; 75-
3701; 75-3716; K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3717; 75-3718; 75-3721.
* 	* 	*
Dear Representative Carmichael:
As State Representative for the 92nd District, you ask our opinion on two questions related
to the interaction between K.S.A. 20-158 and K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(f). We believe
K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3718 is also legally significant to your question. 	The pertinent parts
of those statutes are set forth below:

Representative Carmichael
Page 2
K.S.A. 20-158: 	The chief justice shall submit to the legislature 1 the annual
budget request for the judicial branch of state government for inclusion in the
annual budget document for appropriations for the judiciary. Such budget shall
be prepared and submitted in the manner provided by K.S.A. 75-3716 and 75-
3717, and amendments thereto … .
K.S.A. 75-3718(c): 	The director of the budget shall not revise the budget
estimate for the judicial branch of state government that is submitted pursuant
to K.S.A. 20-158, and amendments thereto. 2
K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(f): The budget estimate for the judicial branch of
state government as submitted to the director of the budget pursuant to K.S.A.
20-158, and amendments thereto, shall be included in the governor's budget
report.3
K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3717(a) requires every state agency to “file with the division of
the budget its budget estimates for the next fiscal year, and amendments and
revisions. . . .” A state agency is defined as “any state office or officer, department,
board, commission, institution, bureau or agency, division or unit within any office,
department, board, commission or other state authority or any person requesting a
state appropriation.” 4 	We believe the Judiciary is a state agency for purposes of
K.S.A. 75-3717.
In your first question, you ask:
Is the governor required to submit the Judiciary’s budget directly to the
Legislature without changes by the Director of the Budget and must it be
included in The Governor’s Budget Report as submitted?
In our opinion, the plain language of the statutes requires the following actions to occur in
this order. First, when K.S.A. 20-158, K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3717(a), and K.S.A. 75-3718(c)
are read together, the chief justice of the Kansas Supreme Court is required to prepare and
submit the judiciary’s budget estimate to the Legislature. 	The judiciary’s budget estimate is
deemed submitted to the Legislature when it is submitted to the director of the budget for
inclusion in the governor’s budget report as provided by K.S.A. 75-3716 and K.S.A. 2014
Supp. 75-3717. 	In addition, like all state agencies, the Judiciary must submit a copy of its
budget estimate directly to the Legislature through the Legislative Research Department as
required by K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3717(b).
1 Prior to the 2003 amendments to this statute, the chief justice submitted the annual budget to the director of
the budget, rather than to the Legislature. L. 2003 Ch. 99, § 20. The remainder of the law was unchanged.
2 Emphasis added.
3 Emphasis added. Because K.S.A. 75-3718(c) and K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(f) both refer to K.S.A. 20-158,
we presume that the term “budget request” in K.S.A. 20-158 is intended to be synonymous with the term
“budget estimate” in K.S.A. 75-3718(c) and K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(f).
4 K.S.A. 75-3701(3).

Representative Carmichael
Page 3
Second, pursuant to K.S.A. 75-3716 and K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3717, the director of the
budget has certain duties with regard to a state agency’s budget estimate, but pursuant to
K.S.A. 75-3718(c), the director of the budget is not permitted to revise the judiciary’s budget
estimate. 	The obligation of the director of the budget is to include the judiciary’s budget
estimate in the Governor’s Budget Report without revision.
Third, the governor is required by K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(f) to include the judiciary’s
budget estimate, as submitted by the judiciary to the director of the budget, in the
Governor’s Budget Report. 	However, the governor is not relieved of the requirements of
K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(b), which provides:
The budget report of the governor shall be set up in three parts, the nature
and contents of which shall include the following:
(1) Part one shall consist of a budget message by such governor, including the
governor’s recommendations with reference to the fiscal policy of the state
government for the current fiscal year and the ensuing fiscal year, describing
the important features of the budget plan for each of the fiscal years included,
embracing a general budget summary setting forth the aggregate figures of
the budget so as to show the balanced relation between the total proposed
expenditures and the total anticipated income for the current fiscal year and
the ensuing fiscal year, with the basis and factors upon which the estimates
were made, and the means of financing the budget plan for the each of the
fiscal years included, compared with the corresponding figures for at least the
last completed fiscal year, and the director of the budget shall prepare the
figures for the governor for such comparisons.
. . . .
(2) Part two shall embrace the detailed budget estimates for each of the fiscal
years included, both of expenditures and revenues, showing the requests of
the state agencies, if any, and the governor’s recommendations thereon. . . .5
(3) Part three shall consist of a draft of a legislative measure or measures
reflecting the governor’s budget for all of the fiscal years included in the
budget report.6
Thus, the governor is required to make a recommendation on state agencies’ budget
requests and draft legislative measures reflecting the recommendations. As noted above,
the Judiciary is a state agency for purposes of K.S.A. 75-3701(3). Unlike K.S.A. 75-3817(c),
there is nothing in K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721 that prohibits the governor from making
recommendations in the Governor’s Budget Report regarding the budget submission of any
state agency, including the Judiciary. 	Thus, although the director of the budget may not
revise the judiciary’s budget estimate, and such budget estimate must be included in the
5 Emphasis added.
6 Emphasis added.

Representative Carmichael
Page 4
Governor’s Budget Report, the governor is bound by no such prohibition. 	Further, the
language in K.S.A. 20-158 and K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 75-3721(f) does not vitiate the mandatory
requirements imposed on the governor regarding what is required to be in the Governor’s
Budget Report. 	Therefore, as the statutes are written, the governor is required to make a
recommendation in the Governor’s Budget Report and to draft legislation on each state
agency budget estimate as a starting point for the Legislature in the appropriations process.
Thus, each year when the Legislature convenes to consider appropriations for the judiciary
pursuant to Article 2, Section 24, of the Kansas Constitution, it should have before it all of
the following: 	(1) the Governor’s Budget Report containing the budget estimate of the
judiciary as submitted by the chief justice to the Division of the Budget pursuant to K.S.A.
75-3717(a), unchanged by the director of the budget as required by K.S.A. 75-3718(c), and
included as submitted and without change in the Governor’s Budget Report as required by
K.S.A. 75-3721(f); (2) a copy of the budget estimate prepared by the chief justice and
submitted directly to the Legislature through the Legislative Research Department as
required by K.S.A. 75-3717(b); and (3) the governor’s recommendations for the judiciary
budget as required by K.S.A. 75-3721(b)(2). 	Presumably, the information presented to the
legislature pursuant to (1) and (2) would be identical, while the information presented
pursuant to (3) may be identical or may differ. 	Under this statutory process, the legislature
has before it both the chief justice’s unaltered recommendation for the judiciary budget and
the governor’s recommendation for the judiciary budget when it makes appropriations
decisions regarding the judiciary.
In your other question, you ask:
If the governor’s original budget report fails to comply with K.S.A. 75-3721(f) is
the 	governor 	required 	to 	submit 	a 	supplemental 	budget 	request 	to 	the
legislature complying with K.S.A. 74-3721(f)?
Given our conclusion on your first question, we do not believe it is necessary to address
your second question.
Sincerely,
Derek Schmidt
Kansas Attorney General
Athena E. Andaya
Deputy Attorney General
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