New Kan. panel nominating WC judges to have open meetings

A new committee formed to pick nominees for worker’s compensation judge positions will review open meetings and open records laws and how they apply to the committee next week. The Workers Compensation and Employment Security Boards Nominating Committee formed last session had been operating under the assumption it falls under the Kansas Open Meetings Act and Kansas Open Records Act on the advice of a Department of Labor official. Eric Stafford, the Kansas Chamber of Commerce’s representative on the seven-member committee, said he had consulted the Kansas attorney general following the group’s first meeting last month and found "there’s pretty much no doubt we fall under KOMA."