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Kansas Administrative Regulations Information

What are K.A.R.'s?
How are K.A.R.'s filed?
What agency publishes the K.A.R.'s?
How do I obtain the K.A.R. books?
Where do I direct questions about K.A.R. decisions?
Who do I contact for further information?

What are K.A.R.'s?
Kansas Administrative Regulations implement or interpret legislation administered by an agency. Statutory requirements for filing administrative regulations are found in the rules and regulations filing act, K.S.A. 77-415 et seq. All Kansas Administrative Regulations (K.A.R.'s) are filed in the Office of the Secretary of State. KSSOS publishes the regulations in the Kansas Register, the state's official newspaper, and in the Volumes or Supplement to the Kansas Administrative Regulations.

How are K.A.R.'s filed?
There are a number of steps that a state agency must go through in order to get their regulations on file. The Secretary of State is responsible for filing and publication of the final rules and regulations. Each agency is directed by statute to promulgate rules and regulations. The agency writes the regulation, and then sends it to the Department of Administration to be checked for grammar, spelling, and organization. After the Department of Administration stamps the regulation as approved, the agency submits the regulation to the Attorney General for approval as to legality.

The first step that KSSOS is involved in is filing of PROPOSED rules and regulations. An agency must send a Notice of Hearing on Proposed Administrative Regulations, along with two copies of the proposed regulations, stamped by the Department of Administration and the Attorney General, and two copies of the economic impact statement. This notice must be published in the Register at least 60 days prior to the date of the hearing. The agency may receive comments during that notice period and may make revisions to the regulations as a result of those comments. When the agency is satisfied that the regulations are in the proper final form, it adopts the regulations and sends the ADOPTED regulations to KSSOS for final publication and filing. If all requirements are met, the regulations are published in the Kansas Register and become effective 15 days after publication, unless a later date is specified in the body of the regulation.

What agency publishes the K.A.R.'s?

The Secretary of State's office publishes adopted regulations in the K.A.R. Volumes and Supplements. A full set is published every third year. A K.A.R. Supplement is published the other two years. The K.A.R. Volumes contain the most recent version of all regulations as filed in their office by December 31 of a particular year. For instance, the 2000 Volumes contain the most recent version of all regulations filed in this office by December 31, 1999. The 2001 Supplement contains the most recent version of all regulations filed in 2000, and supplements the 2000 Volumes. The 2002 Supplement contains the most recent version of all regulations filed in 2000 and 2001, and replaces the 2001 Supplement to supplement the 2000 Volumes. As new, amended or revoked regulations are received, they are published in the Kansas Register. Therefore, a person should first check the Register, then the current supplement, then the current volume to find the most recent version of a particular regulation. If the regulation is found at any of these sequential steps, stop and consider that version the most recent.

All Kansas Administrative Regulations (K.A.R.'s) are filed in the Office of the Secretary of State. KSSOS publishes the regulations in the Kansas Register, the state's official newspaper, and in the Volumes or Supplement to the Kansas Administrative Regulations.

How do I obtain the K.A.R. books?
Contact the Kansas Secretary of State's office at 785-296-4564.

Where do I direct questions about K.A.R. decisions?
Kansas does not require the decisions of Administrative Law Judges to be catalogued anywhere. There is no central place where that information is available. It would be best to contact the agency that would deal with the particular issue. For example, the Department of Human Resources handles workers compensation, so a person would contact HR for workers compensation decisions.

accessKansas has a listing of links to Kansas State Agency Web sites: Kansas Agency List

Who do I contact for further information?
Please contact the Kansas Secretary of State's office at 785-296-4564 with questions regarding the K.A.R.'s. You may contact the Help Center with your technical questions.