Kansas Statutes Annotated

K.S.A. § 12-137 (2026)

Limitations and procedures for exercise of constitutional home rule power of taxation or other revenue measures; ordinance; notice; referendum

✓ current as of May 2026

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12-137. Limitations and procedures for exercise of constitutional home rule power of taxation or other revenue measures; ordinance; notice; referendum. Where, under the power of cities granted by paragraph (b) of section 5 of article 12 of the constitution of Kansas, the governing body of any city by ordinance proposes to levy for revenue purposes any tax, excise, fee, charge or other exaction other than permit fees or license fees for regulatory purposes, which is not limited or prohibited or a procedure for the levy of which is not otherwise prescribed by enactment of the legislature as provided by said paragraph (b), such ordinance shall require a two-thirds (2/3) vote of the members-elect of the governing body and shall be published once each week for two (2) consecutive weeks in the official city newspaper.

No such ordinance shall take effect until sixty (60) days after its final publication, and if within sixty (60) days of its final publication a petition signed by a number of electors of the city equal to not less than ten percent (10%) of the number of electors who voted at the last preceding regular city election shall be filed with the county election officer of the county in which such city is entirely or primarily located demanding that such ordinance be submitted to a vote of the electors, it shall not take effect until submitted to a referendum and approved by a majority of the electors voting thereon. The governing body of any city may submit any ordinance providing for such levy to a referendum without petition. Ordinances authorizing such levies submitted to referendum without petition may be passed by a majority vote of the governing body and shall be published once in the official city newspaper.

History: L. 1961, ch. 78, § 1; L. 1977, ch. 56, § 1; May 13.

Notes of Decisions

Cited in 7 cases, 1973–2015 · leading case: Farha v. City of Wichita, 161 P.3d 717 (Kan. 2007).

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Farha v. City of Wichita, 161 P.3d 717 (Kan. 2007). · cites it 11× “led the City’s charter ordinance authorizing the court costs; that the charter ordinance was fatally flawed because it did not contain substitute and additional provisions required by the Home Rule Amendment; and that, even if the imposition of costs was constitutionally…”

Clark v. City of Overland Park, 602 P.2d 1292 (Kan. 1979). · cites it 6× “” Also on July 1, 1961, K.S.A. 12-137 and 12-138 (Corrick) became effective.”

Kansas City Renaissance Festival Corp. v. City of Bonner Springs, 8 P.3d 701 (Kan. 2000). · cites it 4× “The first was K.S.A. 1977 Supp. 12-137, which Overland Parle relied on and which provided “for the enactment of municipal sales tax ordinances by a two-thirds vote of the members-elect of the governing body, and requiring a referendum only in the event that a proper petition for…”

Heartland Apt. Ass'n, Inc. v. City of Mission, 352 P.3d 1073 (Kan. Ct. App. 2015). · cites it 3× “The same is true for Heartland’s argument raised after summary judgment was granted, that tire City failed to properly follow the procedures in K.S.A. 12-137 for the enactment of Home Rule Ordinances, commonly called Charter Ordinances.”

Callaway v. City of Overland Park, 508 P.2d 902 (Kan. 1973). “12-141 is that found in Chapters 78 and 79 of the Kansas Session Laws of 1961, and the act included K.S.A. 12-137, 12-138, 12-139, 12-140 and 12-141.”

Ramcharan-Maharajh v. Gilliland, 286 P.3d 216 (Kan. Ct. App. 2012). “See K.S.A. 12-137; Heim, Kansas Local Government Law §§ 5.”

Cook v. City of Enter., 666 P.2d 1197 (Kan. 1983). · cites it 2× “1020 was not properly promulgated because K.S.A. 12-137 requires two publications. That statute provides in substance that when a city, under the Home Rule amendment, by ordinance proposes to levy for revenue purposes any tax, excise, fee, charge or other exaction, such…”

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