Opinion ID: 2632280
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: jurisdiction

Text: When a statute is plain and unambiguous, the court must give effect to the legislature's intent as expressed in the language of the statute, rather than determine what the law should be. In re Care and Treatment of Ingram, 266 Kan. 46, 48, 965 P.2d 831 (1998); Kilner v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 252 Kan. 675, 682, 847 P.2d 1292 (1993). It is presumed that the legislature understood the meaning of and intended the words used and that the legislature used the words in accordance with their ordinary and common meaning. Boatright v. Kansas Racing Comm'n, 251 Kan. 240, 245, 834 P.2d 368 (1992). In construing statutes and determining legislative intent, several provisions of an act, in pari materia, must be construed together with a view of reconciling and bringing them into workable harmony if possible. State v. Vega-Fuentes, 264 Kan. 10, 14, 955 P.2d 1235 (1998). Is the 60-day period in K.S.A. 2001 Supp. 59-29a06 jurisdictional? Searcy relies upon In re Care and Treatment of Blackmore, 30 Kan. App.2d 90, 39 P.3d 89 (2002), and In re Care and Treatment of Brown, 26 Kan. App.2d 117, 978 P.2d 300 (1999), in support of his contention that the 60-day period is jurisdictional. We note that there are at least two reasons why Searcy benefits from the 60-day period being jurisdictional. First, the question of whether subject matter jurisdiction exists is a question of law over which this court has unlimited review, and an objection based on lack of subject matter jurisdiction may be raised at any time, even when it is raised for the first time on appeal. Rivera, 267 Kan. at 868; State ex rel. Secretary of SRS v. Mayfield, 25 Kan. App.2d 452, 455, 966 P.2d 85 (1998). Thus, Searcy's failure to raise this issue below does not preclude review on appeal. Secondly, a party cannot waive or consent to the jurisdiction of a court if the court lacks or has lost subject matter jurisdiction. In re Marriage of Mosier, 251 Kan. 490, Syl. ¶ 1, 836 P.2d 1158 (1992); Harris v. Christy, 166 Kan. 395, Syl. ¶ 5, 201 P.2d 1067 (1949). If jurisdictional, failure to bring a respondent to trial within 60 days of the probable cause determination would deprive the court of jurisdiction and require the court to dismiss the action for violation of the respondent's right to be brought to trial within 60 days, rendering the State's contention that Searcy waived the 60-day limitation by his actions meritless.