Kansas Attorney General Opinions

A community college’s taxing district is established and limited by statute. The Legislature has not granted community colleges the authority to remove or transfer territory from one community college district to another. If one of the two community colleges in Montgomery County closed, the other one cannot absorb the closed college’s taxing district because no statutory mechanism exists to do so. Once a community college closes, its taxing district no longer exists, and the territory within that taxing district is no longer be part of a community college district. Another community college co

Residents’ rooms in Kansas Office of Veterans Services’ skilled nursing facilities do not constitute a “facility” as defined by SB 244 and therefore are not subject to the law’s multiple-occupancy private space provisions.

March 23, 2026 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2026-7 Brenda L. Head Frieden & Forbes LLP 1414 S.W. Ashworth Place, Suite 201 Topeka, KS 66604 Re: Public Health—Regulations of Pharmacists—Practice of Pharmacy Defined; Persons Engaged as Pharmacists Public Health—Physician Assistants…

February 23, 2026 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2026-6 Shirla McQueen SWMC Chief Legal Counsel Sharp McQueen, P.A. 419 N. Kansas Ave. P.O. Box 2619 Liberal, KS 67905-2619 Nathanial Foreman Seward County Counselor Tate, Kitzke & Foreman LLC 1024 S. Trindle St. P.O. Box 909 Hugoton,…

K.S.A. 76-731a provides certain illegal aliens with in-state tuition at Kansas postsecondary educational institutions. Because this statute provides a tuition benefit not available to U.S. citizens and provides an impermissible public benefit, the statute violates federal law. Cited herein: K.S.A. 76-731a.

K.S.A. 72-5179 requires the Kansas State Board of Education to pay for certain exams, including the ACT, for “any person who is regularly enrolled in any public school or accredited nonpublic school located in Kansas.” Nonpublic schools may seek and obtain accreditation by the Board, and the Legislature has consistently used the term “accredited nonpublic school” to refer to those schools that have done so. Accordingly, under K.S.A. 72-5179 the Board is only required to pay for exams for students who attend a public school or a nonpublic school that has been accredited by the Board.

K.S.A. 2-611 mandates that county residents elect the members of county extension councils. Because this statute concerns elections, counties may not invoke their home rule authority to exempt themselves from it.

K.S.A. 12-16,140 and 12-16,141 obligate state and local law enforcement officers to cooperate with federal immigration officials and to honor ICE detainer requests on the basis of such cooperation. State and local law enforcement officers are also authorized to arrest illegal aliens in cooperation with federal immigration officials.

January 6, 2026 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2026-1 Richard Raleigh Harper County Attorney 201 N. Jennings Ave., 4th Floor Anthony, KS 67003 Re: Taxation—Correction of Irregularities—Unlawful Release, Discharge, Remission or Commutation of Taxes; Civil Action Authorized Thereon S…

May 19, 2025 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2025-9 David A. Thompson Morton County Counselor 737 Vilymaca Street P.O. Box 1131 Elkhart, Kansas 67950 Re: Cities and Municipalities—General Provisions—Countywide and City Retailers’ Sales Taxes Cities and Municipalities—General Provisi…

April 17, 2025 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2025-8 Angela J. Lawson Acting Chief Counsel Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City 701 North Seventh Street, 9th Floor Kansas City, Kansas 66101 Re: Cities and Municipalities—Miscellaneous Provisions Crimes and Punishments—…

The Kansas Vehicle Dealers and Manufacturers Licensing Act is an all-encompassing licensing regime for the sale of motor vehicles in Kansas. Because the Act permits only dealers that operate under an agreement with a manufacturer or distributor to obtain a license to sell new vehicles, a manufacturer may not engage in direct-to-consumer retail sales.

K.S.A. 8-1575 prohibits a person from driving a golf cart on a sidewalk. Whether a particular pathway constitutes a “sidewalk” depends on the facts. A city may not exempt itself from this statute by enacting a charter ordinance.

February 20, 2025 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2025-5 Dr. Marcus Garstecki Barton County Community College President 245 NE 30 Road Great Bend, Kansas 67530 Re: Schools—School District Employment Contracts State Boards, Commissions, and Authorities—Public Employees Retirement Sys…

When a county has established the position of county counselor and there is a temporary vacancy in that position, a county attorney is not prohibited from receiving a fee in addition to the county attorney’s salary for performing the duties of the county counselor on an interim basis.

The common law doctrine of incompatibility of office precludes a person from concurrently holding the positions of a county hospital board member and a physician in the same hospital.

December 29, 2025 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2025-26 Justin Whitten General Counsel Kansas Governor Laura Kelly Room 541-E 300 SW 10th Ave. Topeka, KS 66612 Re: Criminal Procedure—Uniform Criminal Extradition Act—Fugitives from Justice; Duty of Governor Synopsis: Kansas does no…

County election officers’ duty to destroy ballots pursuant to K.S.A. 25- 2708(b) is directory and not mandatory, and such duty must give way to a search warrant or subpoena compelling the production or preservation of such ballots pursuant to a criminal prosecution or investigation. However, mere notice of a pending criminal investigation is likely not enough to forestall the directive to destroy ballots.

December 16, 2025 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2025-24 Jeffrey Chubb Sedan City Attorney 204 E. Laurel P.O. Box 747 Independence, Kansas 67301 Re: Taxation—Miscellaneous Provisions—Budgets of Taxing Subdivisions Synopsis: K.S.A. 79-2988(b)’s use of the word “shall” is mandatory. …

K.S.A. 21-6002(b)(2) provides that “[u]pon conviction of official misconduct a public officer or employee shall forfeit such officer or employee’s office or employment.” Because the forfeiture is tied to the offense, and the offense is tied to the abuse of a specific position, the forfeiture is limited to the position held when the offense was committed.

The Public Adjusters Licensing Act defines public adjusting only in the context of helping to settle first-party claims under commercial lines insurance contracts. Because the Act has a narrow focus and does not prohibit public adjusting for claims under other types of insurance contracts, the Act neither regulates nor prohibits public adjusting for claims arising under residential lines insurance contracts. Cited herein: K.S.A. 40-5502; 40-5503.

A limited liability partnership is not a “limited partnership” that must obtain approval under K.S.A. 17-5908 in order to establish a swine production facility in a county.

September 8, 2025 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2025-20 The Honorable Larry Alley State Senator, 32nd District State Capitol, Room 441-E Topeka, Kansas 66612 Re: Corporations—Professional Corporations—Incorporators; Articles of Incorporation; Regulating Boards to Issue Certificate…

The Governor’s use of the line-item veto to excise the questioned proviso contained within Section 2(a) of 2024 House Substitute for Senate Bill 387 while leaving the specific item of appropriation of $5 million exceeded the authority granted to the Governor under Article 2, Section 14(b) of the Constitution of the State of Kansas.

Because the candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor run together as a joint candidacy, a vacancy in one slot terminates the candidacy unless state law provides a means for filling the vacancy. When the vacancy occurs after the candidacy has filed for the primary election but before the filing deadline, the remaining member cannot fill the vacancy because no statute authorizes him to do so. But he may re-file as part of a new candidacy, which must fulfill all the statutory requirements for ballot access, including paying the full filing fee when submitting a declaration of intention to

Because the membership of the joint recreation commission between Independence and U.S.D. 446 was consistent with state law when it was established in 1979, K.S.A. 12-1926(b) allows the commission to continue as constituted, provided the majority of commissioners have not voted to reorganize the commission.

August 12, 2025 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2025-17 Michael Kagay District Attorney Third Judicial District of Kansas 200 SE 7th Street, Suite 214 Topeka, Kansas 66603 Re: Procedure, Civil—Rules of Civil Procedure—Subpoenas Procedure, Civil—Rules of Civil Procedure—Subpoenas of …

July 30, 2025 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2025-16 Mr. James R. Campbell Anderson County Counselor 511 Neosho St. Burlington, KS 66839 Re: Notaries Public and Commissioners—Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts—Authority to Perform Notarial Acts Notaries Public and Commissioners—R…

K.S.A. 12-5252(a) exempts cities in counties subject to the FEMA-1711- DR or FEMA-1699 disaster declarations and those counties from certain statutory requirements for the establishment of a Reinvestment Housing Incentive District, including the requirement of holding a public hearing on the proposal, but this exemption only applied prior to July 1, 2013.

K.S.A. 41-2911(b)(1) requires city ordinances authorizing Sunday sales of alcoholic liquor and cereal malt beverages to be published twice. If an adopted ordinance is defeated by protest petition but subsequently included in a new compilation of the city code that is only published once, the city has not validly authorized Sunday sales.

The Board of County Commissioners of Johnson County recently enacted a resolution that purports to place the renewal of an existing sales tax under K.S.A. 12-187(b)(21)—which authorizes a tax to fund the construction and operation of public safety projects—on the November 2025 ballot. The resolution seeks to fund, among other things, mental health services and emergency medical services. Because the resolution tries to fund measures that do not qualify as public safety projects and it would fund different projects than that for which the existing tax was enacted, a court would find that the Bo

A recent bill in the Kansas House of Representatives—2025 House Bill 2384—would authorize the Kansas State Historical Society to transfer the Shawnee Indian Mission in Fairway to the Shawnee Tribe. Certain restrictions would be included in the deeds and conveyances. If the Mission were transferred to the Tribe, then the restrictions could be enforced against the Tribe if it clearly and unequivocally waived its sovereign immunity.

The Wyandotte Nation, a federally recognized tribe, wants to negotiate in good faith with the State of Kansas for a gaming compact under the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act (IGRA) that would allow it to conduct Class III gaming on land in the State. Under the Kansas Expanded Lottery Act (KELA), the State Lottery owns one casino in each of the four statutorily designated geographic areas, and each casino is managed by an outside entity. KELA and the governing management contracts for these casinos prevent the State from Justin H. Whitten Page 2

Kansas law allows a school district board of education to expend funds to improve leased property. General obligation bonds may fund improvements to leased properties that are necessary for school district purposes. However, capital outlay funds may not be used to improve leased properties.

As a race-based classification, the requirement that the State Board of Cosmetology have at least one African-American member is constitutional only if it is narrowly tailored to achieve a compelling government interest.

K.S.A. 15-101, K.S.A. 14-101, and K.S.A. 13-101 do not provide for reclassifying a city based on a decrease in population. But K.S.A. 14- 901 does allow for a city of the second class to be reclassified as a city of the third class if the population falls to 1,000 or less and a majority of voters approve of the reclassification. There is no similar mechanism for reclassifying a city of the first class to a city of the second class.

Absent the consent of the land owner, a city may not annex any un- platted tract of agricultural land that is part of a larger tract of land of at least 21 acres.

According to K.S.A. 25-306(a) no person is eligible to accept the nomination of more than one party for the same office. Moreover, according to K.S.A. 25-306e, if a person is nominated by more than one party, the person must designate which party nomination the person accepts.

The expedited process in subsections (b) and (c) of the former version of K.S.A. 19-203a only applied when county commissioner vacancies were to be filled at a special election.

To be a “qualified employer” for purposes of the Kansas Aviation/Aerospace Tax Credit, an entity’s “principal business activity” must “involve[ ] the aviation sector.” This means that an entity’s primary or predominant business activities must be closely related to the aviation sector. The fact that Wichita State University has some connections to the aviation sector does not make it a “qualified employer” when those ties do not predominate over its other business activities.

County election officers may constitutionally prohibit electioneering on private property within 250 feet of a polling place on election day.

The Transient Guest Tax Act is a nonuniform act. As such, a county may exempt itself from provisions of the Act under its home-rule powers through a charter ordinance or resolution. Sherman County’s Charter Resolution No. 18 was a permissible use of its statutory authority. However, once it exempted itself, Sherman County cannot then require the Kansas Department of Revenue to collect the tax.

Although the Kansas Legislature may legally permit a city to impose its land subdivision requirements on county residents within three miles of city limits, it should be cautious when granting cities extraterritorial authority.

If an election recount requestor asks for a hand count of the original paper ballots, the recount must be conducted in that manner and not by using ballot images instead.

K.S.A. 79-2988(b)(2)’s use of “shall” is mandatory. As a result, a governing body of a taxing subdivision may not levy a tax rate in excess of the revenue neutral rate where the county clerk fails to timely send out the required notice to the taxpayers pursuant to K.S.A. 79-2988(b)(2).

A certificate of deposit qualifies as an individual savings account that may be designated as a first-time home buyers savings account under K.S.A. 58-4903. Although neither a savings account nor a certificate of deposit is defined by the statute, other sources shows a savings account is commonly understood to include a certificate of deposit.

The State Banking Code requires the Bank Commissioner to report criminal violations of the Banking Code to the county or district attorney of the county in which the bank or trust company is located. This includes information that would otherwise be considered confidential.

K.S.A. 12-1651(a) requires second and third class cities to designate an official city newspaper for the publishing of official city business, provided the newspaper meets the qualifications set forth in K.S.A. 12- 1651(b). However, under the home rule provisions of the Kansas Constitution, Kan. Const. Art. 12, § 5, which allows cities to exempt themselves from nonuniform acts of the legislature, a city may exempt itself by charter ordinance from the requirements set forth in K.S.A. 12-1651 because the statute is not uniformly applicable as it applies only to second- and third-class cities.

K.S.A. 74-5609a(b) requires that a city which employs a law enforcement officer within one year after the completion of that officer’s training reimburse the city that paid for the officer’s training.

The Kansas Automobile Insurance Plan and Kansas Automobile Assigned Claims Plan are subject to the Kansas Open Records Act and the Kansas Open Meetings Act.