(Developing: Will update)
House budget negotiators on Tuesday backed off a proposal forcing Secretary of State Kris Kobach to pay any legal fees for being found in contempt of court.
They withdrew the legal fees proviso that the House voted 103-16 to tack onto the budget during floor debate last Friday afternoon. The section of the budget bill was removed Tuesday afternoon during a House-Senate conference committee.
“We’ve made our statement,” said Republican state Rep. Troy Waymaster, the lead House budget negotiator and chair of the House Appropriations Committee.
“It did have an overwhelming vote on the House floor, but I don’t want to put the state in possible legal jeopardy,” Waymaster said. “There’s no point in dragging it out any further.”
The conference committee’s decision came a day after Kobach’s office sent a letter to Senate President Susan Wagle saying the budget proviso was illegal and would require the state to spend extensive time and lots of money in a “futile” attempt defending the provision.
Sue Becker, senior legal counsel for the secretary of state’s office, said Kobach was sued by the American Civil Liberties Union in his official capacity of secretary of state.
Citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent, Becker said that when state officials are sued in their official capacity, it’s the legal equivalent of litigation against the state.
“When a state officer is sued in his official capacity, any remedy ordered by the court…must satisfied by the state itself,” Becker wrote.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Julie Robinson found Kobach in contempt of court for not following her orders in the state’s defense of its proof-of-citizenship requirements for would-be voters.
Robinson found that the Republican gubernatorial candidate failed to comply with court orders requiring him to notify voters affected by a preliminary decision that blocked the citizenship requirements for anyone registering to vote at a motor-vehicle office.
Kobach had been ordered to register all otherwise eligible motor-voter registration applicants who had their registrations held up because they didn’t provide their proof of citizenship.
He was directed to notify all voters impacted by the court’s preliminary injunction in 2016 that they would be “deemed registered and qualified to vote for the appropriate local, state, and federal elections” for purposes of the Nov. 8, 2016 general election.”
Robinson awarded the ACLU legal fees in the contempt case and is still considering the broader proof-of-citizenship case.
The ACLU had been given until April 30 to file a petition with the court seeking legal fees. But the civil liberties group received an extension until May 7 to file its application with the court.
