TOPEKA — Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach plans to request Friday restoration of $650,000 cut from the office’s budget two years ago and approval of a $375,000 increase to hire attorneys to handle crimes related to unauthorized sports gambling.
Kobach, a Republican sworn into office in January, said he would propose the House General Government Budget Committee make use of a portion of the state’s revenue surplus to rescind the 10% across-the-board reduction implemented by Gov. Laura Kelly in July 2021.
He said the attorney general’s office experienced difficulty retaining and recruiting attorneys due to erosion of salary competitiveness with county prosecutor offices and private law firms. Twenty-three of the 33 unfilled positions in the Kansas attorney general’s office were designated for lawyers. In other words, he said, one-third of 65 full-time equivalent attorney positions in his office were not filled.
