? Editor’s note: The Kansas House Appropriations Committee introduced a bill late Friday that would make all state employees “essential” until the end of the current legislative session, averting furloughs in the short term. Discussion of that bill is expected to begin at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Kansas University sent furlough notices Friday to 5,270 “non-essential” employees at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses, and an estimated 2,600 more at the Medical Center in Kansas City, notifying them that they will be furloughed without pay effective Sunday if Kansas lawmakers fail to enact a balanced budget before then.

All told, at least 24,200 workers at Kansas state government agencies and state universities would be affected if the furloughs go into effect.

Figures provided Friday to The Associated Press showed that almost 71 percent of those employees work at a state university.

Kansas Department of Administration spokesman John Milburn said that while individual agencies have experienced furloughs in the past, this was the largest and most widespread furlough notice in state history.

Lawmakers have until Saturday night to pass a budget plan, including a tax package to fund it, or else all nonessential state employees would be ordered to stay home starting 12:01 a.m. Sunday.

“As you’re likely aware, the Kansas Legislature has still not passed a budget for Fiscal Year 2016,” the email to non-essential employees stated. “Without a budget, there is no authority to distribute funds to cover the first pay period of the fiscal year, which begins Sunday, June 7. The result would be the furlough of state employees beginning at 12:00 a.m. that day.”

“This written notice is to inform you that your position has been identified as “not-essential” for the purpose of the emergency furlough,” the email continued. :This means that if a furlough is implemented, you are not to report to work for your work shift beginning June 7, and you will remain on furlough until further notice. If you are placed on furlough, you are not to perform any work, even on a voluntary basis, for the university. You will be in Leave without Pay status for the duration of the furlough, but you will return to your normal duties when the furlough ends.”

Impact at KU

KU also said in a separate statement Friday that if furloughs take place, they will not affect summer classes, which are scheduled to begin next week.

“We are hoping legislators address this before the Saturday deadline,” the university said in an email to students at the Lawrence and Edwards campuses. “But even if they don’t, we want to assure those of you scheduled for summer session that classes will start as scheduled on Tuesday, June 9, and proceed without interruption during the summer. Additionally, neither your class schedules nor your instructors will be affected, even if there is a shutdown.”

Many KU employees who received notices Friday took to social media to voice their frustrations.

Furloughs of nonessential state employees, if imposed, also would not affect KU Hospital, officials said Friday.

By law, the hospital’s employees are not state employees, hospital spokeswoman Jill Chadwick said in a written statement. Since 1998 the hospital has been under a state authority governance structure, and the hospital does not receive any state appropriations.

However, furloughs would likely affect research and education functions at Kansas University Medical Center, which is part of the Kansas University system, Chadwick said.

An athletic department spokesperson told the Journal-World on Friday that the situation regarding furloughs would have minimal impact for KU athletics because of the limited number of state employees on the payroll.

Other universities and agencies

At Emporia State University, however, employees received an email Friday saying department chairs and deans would be furloughed, along with student workers. But senior administrative assistants would not be furloughed.

Kansas Department of Transportation spokesman Steve Swartz said about 75 percent of that agency’s workforce, or about 1,800 people, received furlough notices.

“We are going to have people in all our field offices,” he said. “There are certain functions we have to provide in terms of keeping roads open and safe. We will have people who can provide those services.”

Among those considered essential, and therefore not furloughed, are KDOT inspectors working on various road construction projects throughout the state, including the South Lawrence Trafficway.

Swartz said the Kansas Turnpike Authority will not be affected by furloughs because it is a quasi-independent agency apart from the state.

KDOT said there will be no stoppage of construction projects now underway and reduced field crews will be available for traffic control needed to shut down roads in emergency situations such as flooding or traffic crashes.

State courts will remain open and fully operational, Kansas Chief Justice Lawton Nuss said in a statement Friday.

That’s because on Thursday, Gov. Sam Brownback signed a separate budget bill that funds the judicial branch of government for the next two fiscal years.

All alcohol enforcement agents, most counselors at state prisons and many social workers at the Department for Children and Families have been notified they would be furloughed, said Rebecca Proctor, executive director for the Kansas Organization of State Employees, the largest state employees union.

Department of Corrections spokesman Adam Pfannenstiel said prisons will remain operating, but parole offices would have some staffing reductions.

Employees prepare

Brendan Lynch, a Kansas University science writer, was among those who received a furlough notice Friday. The married father of two said he now has to take a close look at his finances for the near future.

“I have two grade-school-aged daughters that have a lot of expenses and I have a home in Lawrence with a mortgage. I have expenses that are not going to be furloughed,” he said. “My wife works downtown, so her job will continue. Although, I expect businesses downtown will be negatively affected because KU is such a large employer.”

Brandon Woodard, a recent KU graduate and full-time alumni relations specialist for the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences, said he also received a furlough notice.

“I’m not necessarily paycheck to paycheck, but knowing that I’m not going to have days of work that I’d normally be paid for, not having that income to look forward to is unnerving,” he said.

Lynch said he has to wait a week before applying for unemployment benefits. After that, depending on how much time passes, he said many university employees are likely to begin searching for new jobs.

The furloughs are especially frustrating to Woodard because he specifically chose to accept a job in Kansas, he said.

“I chose to stay here where I’m from in the state I got my education in and I had the whole idea of wanting to give back to my state,” he said. “This makes me wonder if that was the right decision. Should I have accepted employment somewhere else?”

— Journal-World reporters Sara Shepherd and Conrad Swanson and the Associated Press contributed to this story.