Topeka ? There will be one fewer committee in the Kansas House when the Legislature convenes next week.

House Speaker Doug Mays disbanded the House Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee for what he said were efficiency purposes.

But Rep. Paul Davis, of Lawrence, the ranking Democrat on the committee, said Mays’ action was payback because the committee’s chairman, Rep. Ward Loyd, R-Garden City, was often at cross-purposes with the speaker.

“This smells of political punishment,” Davis said.

Loyd was a key player, during last spring’s special legislative session, in fashioning a school finance bill between Republicans and Democrats that Mays opposed. And Loyd was an opponent of proposed constitutional amendments to rein in the judiciary that Mays supported.

The Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee was created three years ago to alleviate the workload of the House Judiciary Committee.

But Mays said having two House committees focusing on criminal justice legislation was overburdening staff and overloading the Senate.

“It was a noble experiment,” Mays said, adding that too many House committees have been created over the years. “More bills coming out doesn’t necessarily mean better policy,” he said.

Loyd declined to speculate on Mays’ action, but said the speaker’s reasoning “doesn’t necessarily ring true.”

He said ending the committee’s work was bad public policy because members had built up expertise on important and complex criminal justice issues.

Loyd said getting legislators properly educated on issues such as elder abuse, sexual offenders and drug treatment was necessary to putting together sound legislation.

Davis added, “Unfortunately, the Judiciary Committee will once again be overwhelmed with bills and I’m afraid that some important issues will not get the attention they deserve.”

But Mays said he believed the Judiciary Committee, chaired by Rep. Mike O’Neal, R-Hutchinson, was in position to work on major issues, such as efforts to tighten sex offender laws.

Loyd, who no longer has a chairmanship, was reassigned to become a member of the House Education Committee. Some of the other members of the Corrections and Juvenile Justice Committee have not been reassigned.

There now are 21 House committees.