Kansas Statutes Annotated: How to Find and Read State Law

Kansas Statutes Annotated (KSA) is the official codification of Kansas state law, organized by subject matter and maintained by the Kansas Legislature. Understanding how the KSA is structured, where to access it, and how its citations function is foundational for litigants, attorneys, researchers, and public administrators working within the Kansas legal system. This page describes the organization of the KSA, the mechanics of reading statutory citations, and the boundaries of what the KSA covers relative to other bodies of Kansas law.

Definition and Scope

The Kansas Statutes Annotated is a subject-matter arrangement of all permanent laws enacted by the Kansas Legislature. The designation "Annotated" distinguishes it from a bare statute compilation: annotations include references to court decisions interpreting specific provisions, cross-references to related statutes, and historical notes on amendments. The Kansas Legislature's Office of Revisor of Statutes (Kansas Legislature — Revisor of Statutes) is the state agency responsible for codifying, compiling, and publishing the KSA.

The KSA is organized into chapters, each covering a broad subject domain. Chapter 21, for example, governs criminal law; Chapter 60 governs civil procedure; Chapter 38 addresses children and families. Within each chapter, statutes are further divided into articles and sections. A standard KSA citation takes the form K.S.A. [chapter]-[article][section] — for example, K.S.A. 60-208 refers to Chapter 60 (Civil Procedure), Article 2, Section 8.

Scope limitations: The KSA covers only Kansas state statutory law. It does not include:

• The Kansas Constitution, which is a separate governing document addressed in the Kansas Constitution and State Law reference.
• Kansas Administrative Regulations (K.A.R.), which are promulgated by state agencies under the Kansas Secretary of State's authority and published separately in the Kansas Register.
• Federal statutes or U.S. Code provisions, even where they interact with Kansas law — those fall under federal jurisdiction as described in the regulatory context for Kansas's legal system.
• Tribal law governing the 4 federally recognized tribal nations with land in Kansas, covered separately at Kansas Tribal Courts and Jurisdiction.

For a broader orientation to the Kansas legal system, the Kansas Legal Services Authority index maps all major categories of state law.

How It Works

Accessing the KSA

The Kansas Legislature maintains a free, publicly searchable version of the KSA at kslegislature.org. The database is searchable by chapter, article, section number, or keyword. Updated versions reflect laws enacted in the most recent legislative session.

Reading a KSA Citation

A complete statutory citation breaks down as follows:

1. Prefix (K.S.A.) — identifies the source as Kansas Statutes Annotated.
2. Chapter number — a 2-digit number identifying the subject chapter (e.g., "60" for civil procedure).
3. Article and section — the remaining digits after the hyphen identify the article and specific section (e.g., "-208" means Article 2, Section 08).
4. Supplement notation — if a statute has been amended since the last bound volume, citations include "(Supp. [year])" to indicate the provision appears in a pocket supplement rather than the main volume.

Session Laws vs. Codified Statutes

When the Kansas Legislature enacts new legislation, it first appears as a Session Law — a standalone enacted bill in the Kansas Session Laws, published by the Revisor of Statutes. The Revisor then integrates that law into the appropriate chapter and section of the KSA. The Session Laws function as the authoritative historical record of each legislative act as passed, including effective dates and any provisions that were not codified.

Annotations and How to Use Them

Annotations following each statutory section are not law — they are research tools. They include citations to Kansas Supreme Court and Kansas Court of Appeals decisions interpreting that section, references to Kansas Attorney General opinions, and cross-references to related KSA provisions. The Kansas Supreme Court and Kansas Court of Appeals decisions cited in annotations clarify how courts have applied statutory language in actual disputes.

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1 — Locating the statute of limitations for a civil claim. Kansas statutes of limitations are codified primarily in K.S.A. Chapter 60, Article 5. A party researching how long they have to file a contract claim would navigate to K.S.A. 60-512, which sets a 5-year limitation period for written contracts (Kansas Statute of Limitations).

Scenario 2 — Verifying landlord-tenant obligations. The Kansas Residential Landlord and Tenant Act appears in K.S.A. Chapter 58, Article 25. Annotations following K.S.A. 58-2553 (landlord duties) include court decisions defining what constitutes "habitable" conditions under Kansas law. See Kansas Landlord-Tenant Law for a full treatment.

Scenario 3 — Researching criminal sentencing ranges. Kansas criminal offense classifications and sentencing grids are governed by K.S.A. Chapter 21 and the Kansas Sentencing Guidelines Act. The Kansas Sentencing Commission publishes the statutory sentencing grid under K.S.A. 21-6804, relevant to Kansas Criminal Sentencing Guidelines.

Scenario 4 — Understanding expungement eligibility. K.S.A. 21-6614 governs expungement of criminal convictions in Kansas, specifying waiting periods — for example, 3 years for certain misdemeanors — and disqualifying offenses. See Kansas Expungement Law for the full eligibility structure.

Decision Boundaries

KSA vs. Kansas Administrative Regulations

The KSA governs substantive statutory law enacted by the Legislature. Agency rules implementing those statutes appear in the Kansas Administrative Regulations (K.A.R.), published by the Kansas Secretary of State. When a regulatory dispute arises, the KSA provides the authorizing statute while the K.A.R. provides the specific rule — both must be read together. Kansas Administrative Law addresses this relationship in detail.

KSA vs. Municipal Ordinances

Kansas cities and counties have authority to enact local ordinances under the Kansas home-rule provisions (K.S.A. Chapter 12). Municipal ordinances govern conduct within city limits and may be more restrictive than — but cannot conflict with — state statute. Municipal court jurisdiction and ordinance structure are covered at Kansas Municipal Courts.

KSA vs. Federal Law

Where federal law preempts state law under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, the KSA provision does not control. Federal courts in Kansas — the U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas — apply federal statutes and regulations independent of the KSA. The interaction between state and federal law in Kansas is addressed at Federal Courts in Kansas.

Unofficial vs. Official Versions

Third-party legal databases (Westlaw, LexisNexis) also publish the KSA with enhanced annotations. These are unofficial versions. The authoritative text of any Kansas statute is the version published by the Revisor of Statutes, and discrepancies between unofficial databases and the official text are resolved in favor of the Revisor's published version.

References

• Kansas Legislature — Revisor of Statutes
• Kansas Statutes Annotated — Full Text Search
• Kansas Secretary of State — Kansas Administrative Regulations
• Kansas Sentencing Commission — Sentencing Guidelines
• Kansas Attorney General — Legal Opinions
• Kansas Court of Appeals — Official Site
• Kansas Supreme Court — Official Site