TOPEKA (AP) — Kansas Chief Justice Lawton Nuss is expected to urge the Legislature to address funding problems in the courts when he delivers his annual State of the Judiciary speech.

The address was scheduled for delivery Wednesday afternoon from the Supreme Court chambers in Topeka.

Kansas’ judicial branch is facing a projected $8.25 million shortfall in its 2015 budget. Nuss said recently that without an additional appropriation, some court employees could be sent home without pay, forcing the court offices to close statewide.

Employee costs account for 96 percent of the judicial budget, including judges and clerical staff. Nuss closed the court system down in 2012 when legislators were slow to act on the state budget.