Bill to ban sanctuary cities passes Kansas Legislature, heads to Gov.’s desk

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TOPEKA, Kan. (WIBW) - A bill that would ban sanctuary cities in the Sunflower State has passed the Kansas Legislature and is headed to the Governor’s desk for consideration.

Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt says the Kansas Senate passed House Bill 2717 on Wednesday, March 30, with a vote of 29-10. The bill restricts local jurisdictions from becoming ‘sanctuary cities.’

“I appreciate the strong and bipartisan support for this legislation in both the Senate and the House of Representatives. Neither our nation’s broken immigration system nor the Biden administration’s ongoing failure to secure our national borders justifies a patchwork of local rules that prevent law enforcement agencies from cooperating with federal officials. Nor does it justify local governments issuing identification cards that can be used statewide but lack basic anti-fraud protections. This commonsense legislation should become law,” Schmidt said.

A week prior, on March 23, the House passed the bill with a 84-38 vote. From there it was sent to the Senate Committee on Federal and State Affairs. A hearing was held on Tuesday and the bill passed the Senate Wednesday.

Now, HB 2717 will head to the desk of Democratic Governor Laura Kelly, who is suspected to veto the bill.

The bill bans municipal identification cards - which are not state or federal issued - invalidating them as being used for state or voter identification. It also requires local governments to cooperate in the enforcement of federal immigration laws.

The bill was originally introduced by Schmidt following the Wyandotte Co. Municipal Government’s vote to allow undocumented residents to be issued a municipal identification card and restricted cooperation in immigration investigations.