TOPEKA, Kan. (CN) - The Kansas House on Thursday unanimously approved a bill to keep state courts open and repeal a law that threatened the court system's budget.
Gov. Sam Brownback in 2014 signed HB 2338 , an appropriations bill that removed the Kansas Supreme Court's authority to elect the chief judge of each district.
In summer 2015, Brownback signed into law a budget bill that contained a non-severability clause stipulating that the entire judiciary budget would be "null and void and shall have no force and effect" should any court strike down HB 2338.
The Kansas Supreme Court found HB 2338 unconstitutional in December last year, after a Kansas district judge sued the state.
The House approved the bill by 119-0 and sent it to the state Senate.
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