Kansas AG Opinions — 2013

A boarding school is a child care facility for the purposes of K.S.A. 65-501 et seq.

For purposes of the Kansas Downtown Redevelopment Act, the “tax increment” includes all additional real property taxes attributable to the increase in value of the improved property, not just those additional taxes that would have been paid to the city.

An Indian tribe is not a political subdivision for the purposes of the Kansas Intrastate Mutual Aid Act.

K.S.A. 12-5040 does not require a local government to make coverage under its group health care benefits plan available to former employees who left employment with the local government for reasons other than retirement.

A board of county commissioners is not required to disclose to the public draft minutes of county commission meetings before such minutes are approved by vote of the commission unless such draft minutes are publicly cited or identified in an open meeting or in the agenda of an open meeting.

K.S.A. 2012 Supp. 19-801b(a)(3) provides that a person who was convicted of any violation of federal or state laws or city ordinances relating to liquor is not eligible to serve as sheriff. A person who was convicted under K.S.A. 2012 Supp. 41-727(a) of possessing or consuming either an alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverage when over 18 years of age but under 21 years of age is disqualified from serving as sheriff pursuant to K.S.A. 2012 Supp. 19-801b(a)(3).

The authority of county elected officials to pay bonuses to their employees is subject to any county-wide pay plan adopted by the board of county commissioners. When a pay plan establishes specific salaries for county employees and is silent on the issue of bonuses, the pay plan should generally be read as prohibiting bonuses.

The word “taxpayer” in K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 79-2005 refers to the property owner. An agent or attorney of the property owner may file a tax protest on the property owner’s behalf, but a third party who is not acting on behalf of the property owner is not a “taxpayer” eligible to protest the property owner’s taxes.

An office leased by the state or a municipality in a privately-owned multi- tenant office building is not a “state or municipal building” for the purposes of the Personal and Family Protection Act (PFPA). An office in a strip shopping center, as described herein, that is leased by the state or a municipality is a “state or municipal building” for the purposes of the PFPA.

Except as described herein, the use of real property as a polling place does not transform the nature of that property for the purposes of the PFPA. Any concealed carry requirements that applied to that property immediately before its temporary use as a polling place continue to apply during its use as a polling place and thereafter.

K.S.A. 12-1,115 authorizes a city to both levy a special assessment and file a civil action to collect the demolition costs from the property owner of an unsafe and dangerous structure. Furthermore, a city is not required to remit to the county any amount recovered in a lawsuit to recoup the moneys expended to remove or raze the unsafe or dangerous structure.

The head of a municipality who serves as an ex officio member of the library board should be counted in calculating the library board’s quorum requirement.

For purposes of the cash-basis law, the term “indebtedness” refers only to financial obligations that are binding, not those that are contingent on future events. As applied to a ten year contract for the wholesale purchase of natural gas that may be terminated with three years’ notice, any expenses beyond the three year period are contingent on the city not cancelling the contract and therefore do not constitute an indebtedness of the city.

A city or county may not require persons licensed to carry concealed handguns to completely encase long guns in a container when transporting such long guns by vehicle.

Kansas ceded its jurisdiction over the federal military installations in Kansas prior to the enactment of the Kansas Pet Animal Act. Consequently, Kansas cannot enforce that Act on the federal military installations in Kansas. Cited herein: K.S.A. 27-101; 27-102; 27-104; 27-105; K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 47-1707; 47-1709; 47-1715; 47-1726; U.S. Const., Art. 1, § 8.

An attorney is not prohibited by K.S.A. 19-705 from serving simultaneously as a county attorney for more than one county. Any prohibition requires an amendment to the statutory qualifications of a county attorney. Cited herein: K.S.A. 2013 Supp. 19-101a; 19-701; 19-702; 19-704; 19-705.

For the purposes of the Personal and Family Protection Act (PFPA), a “state or municipal building” does not include a single floor within a county courthouse. A county may restrict the carrying of firearms into a county courthouse only by providing adequate security measures at the public entrances to the courthouse and by posting the courthouse as prohibiting the concealed carry of handguns in accordance with the PFPA and regulations promulgated by the Attorney General. The chief judge of a judicial district may prohibit the carrying of concealed handguns into courtrooms or ancillary courtroo

A city ordinance banning the open carry of firearms by all persons except those in possession of a valid state-issued concealed carry license would be pre-empted by state law.

The chief hearing officer of the Court of Tax Appeals is not subject to the provision in K.S.A. 2012 Supp. 74-2433(a) prohibiting the appointment of more than two judges from the same political party.

A county may not enact a charter resolution to exempt the county from L. 2013, Ch. 105, § 2.

Asset forfeiture funds may be used to pay for victim or witness relocation if the prosecutor determines the expenditure is for an additional law enforcement and prosecutorial purpose or the head law enforcement officer determines the expenditure is for a special, additional law enforcement purpose and the expenditure is not used to supplant normal expenditures. In addition, counties are not prohibited from agreeing to pay certain expenses for such victim or witness relocation so long the appropriate official in each county determines the expenditure meets the applicable statutory requirement.

January 2, 2013 ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2013-1 Evan C. Watson Sumner County Attorney 501 North Washington Wellington, KS 67152 Re: Probate Code—Care and Treatment Act for Mentally Ill Persons— Definitions; Investigation; Emergency Detention, Authority and Duty of Law Enforce…