Topeka ? Lawmakers have authorized three committee studies of the death penalty in Kansas to look at the cost and fairness of the state’s capital punishment laws.

The interim studies are three of 49 studies approved by the Legislative Coordinating Council, which meets when the Legislature is not in session.

The studies will evaluate the cost of imposing the death penalty, the strength of state laws to assure mentally ill defendants are not executed, and the funding of public defenders for people accused of capital murder — the only crime punishable by the death penalty in Kansas.

The Budget Committee will calculate the costs of executing killers and will review the Board of Indigents’ Defense Services, which includes the Death Penalty Unit. The joint Committee On Corrections and Juvenile Justice will examine state laws protecting mentally ill defendants.

The death penalty cost review will not begin until legislative auditors complete an audit on the costs of prosecuting a death penalty case. The audit is planned for next month.

Results from the studies will be sent to the 2004 Legislature.

State costs for defending John E. Robinson Sr. and Reginald and Jonathan Carr in capital murder cases last year neared $2 million. All three were convicted.

Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Steve Morris, R-Hugoton, advocated the Death Penalty Unit reviews in April, noting that further costs can rise from years of appeals.

The Legislative Coordinating Council did not appoint a committee to review school finance, as Gov. Kathleen Sebelius had requested. Sebelius suggested legislators appoint a 30-member committee of school superintendents, legislators and community leaders for the project.

House Speaker Doug Mays did not rule out the plan, saying “we haven’t had time to discuss that.”

The council also directed its Assessment and Taxation Committee to study whether people whose property is damaged — such as in the May tornadoes — should be required to pay property taxes.