The Senate Judiciary Committee on the final day before turnaround advanced a package of bills addressing court record secrecy, witness attendance, employment covenants, administrative review and child-support enforcement, and agreed to continue work on third-party litigation funding.

Senators and outside proponents said sealing certain case, warrant and subpoena information in criminal and juvenile offender cases will protect victims and law enforcement after the statewide court management system "Odyssey" exposed information previously not public. "This is an important bill that basically, plugged some holes from, issues created from the, new statewide, court management system called Odyssey," said Steve Howe, Johnson County district attorney. The committee passed Senate Bill 204 as amended to explicitly allow disclosure to law enforcement for executing warrants and serving subpoenas.

Proponents said the proposed sealing provisions would prevent the public display of warrant existence and related documents that could reveal victims' names, addresses or sensitive records. Mark Bennett, district attorney for the 18th Judicial District, told the committee the bill would not limit discovery rights: "If counsel for either side issues a subpoena, that information could still be shared by way of Brady and this discovery statute." Ed Klump, representing the Kansas Sheriffs Association, requested an amendment to ensure law enforcement can access subpoena information; the committee adopted language to that effect.

On witness attendance, Senate Bill 203 would authorize a judge to issue a notice to appear for a subpoenaed witness who does not respond, and allow the court to continue an indirect-contempt charge while imposing conditions to secure the witness's presence. Joshua Stewart, senior assistant district attorney, said the change gives prosecutors "a gentler option" than immediate arrest for witnesses who fail to appear and who may be victims reluctant to come to court. Public defenders and indigent defense representatives opposed SB203, warning of due-process and confrontation clause implications and noting the bill as drafted may permit detention without appointed counsel.

The committee also moved Senate Bill 241, which narrows the definition of an unlawful "restraint of trade" to make certain restrictive covenants enforceable, and adopted a motion recommending the bill favorably. Reviser testimony indicated the bill would amend the Restraint of Trade Act and provide interpretive guidance for contract covenants; the measure as presented does not include explicit retroactivity language.

Senate Bill 222 was amended and recommended favorably. The amendment clarified the bill's scope to administrative hearing officers and adjusted language about resolving doubt in favor of protections for "an individual's fundamental constitutional rights." The bill directs courts and administrative hearing officers not to defer to state-agency statutory or regulatory interpretations and to review such questions de novo.

On family-law changes, the committee advanced Senate Bill 237 with an amendment coordinated with the Kansas Public Employees Retirement System (KPERS). The amendment limits use of retirement-plan funds for child-support arrearages to situations in which a parent has an established arrearage and a distributable event under the retirement plan occurs; distributions remain subject to plan terms, tax consequences and any penalties. Committee discussion noted remaining concerns from the Department for Children and Families about prohibiting downward modification of support for incarceration, an issue not resolved by the amendment and flagged as a potential federal compliance risk.

The committee began but did not complete work on Senate Bill 54, a bill creating standards for discovery of third-party litigation funding agreements and requiring reporting to the Judicial Council. Committee members and stakeholders reported a late compromise; the committee scheduled a follow-up working session to allow the reviser to format agreed language and to resume work before a planned adjournment. Committee leadership announced members should keep their SB54 folders and expect a meeting later in the day to finalize amendments.

Votes and motions in committee on the day were taken by voice; the transcript records the motions and that they carried but does not give a roll-call tally. Where the record lacked an explicit vote count, the committee noted passage by voice vote and recorded the motions as approved.

The committee's actions advance several bills to the Senate floor under general orders to meet turnaround deadlines; SB54 will return for final drafting and consideration at a scheduled follow-up session.