By Jennifer Theurer

Kansas News Service Reporter Dylan Lysen recently detailed a new bill that would increase public information about the process of nominating justices for the Kansas Supreme Court.

Despite the Legislature’s efforts to eliminate the process altogether, Republican senators are expected to vote on a bill that would require certain records about applicants and members of the state’s Supreme Court Nominating Commission be open to the public, Lysen reports.

If it passes, the bill will overturn a Kansas Supreme Court record confidentiality rule for all things related to the nominating commission. Because of the rule, the court can release information about the judicial applicants at its discretion. The rule does not specifically address information about its own members.

The nine-member group consists of a lawyer and a nonlawyer for each of the state’s four congressional districts with another lawyer serving as chair. The governor appoints the four nonlawyer positions and the five lawyer positions are elected by other attorneys.

The bill comes as lawmakers are also seeking to eliminate the nomination process through a state constitutional amendment. Kansans will vote on August 4 whether to allow justices to be elected rather than appointed, thus changing the state constitution.