Attorney General Opinion No. 98-26 is a recent opinion of the Kansas attorney general that concluded that a series of meetings, each involving a majority of attendees, is a meeting. It addressed questions raised by the League of Kansas Municipalities regarding the Kansas Open Meetings Act. The opinion was written by Attorney General Loretta Milburn. The League of Kansas Municipalities’ letter cited a Kansas case that involved the alleged violation of the Open Meetings Act.
Attorney General opinions are written in response to requests from state agencies and elected officials. While opinions issued by the Attorney General are official statements of the Attorney General’s authority, they are not binding. If you are interested in a specific opinion, you may wish to consult the Kansas Attorney General’s Biennial Report. The annual report contains select opinion numbers from 1878 to 1959. These reports are published online. You can also access the Kansas Attorney General’s website to view all published opinions.
K.S.A. 45-218 states that all public records are available for inspection. While there are some exceptions to the open records statute, it is generally liberally construed to promote public access to information. Attorney General’s Opinions issued in this case addressed the question of whether or not the records that the Register of Deeds published are open to the public. The Register of Deeds’ case cites the Supreme Court decision in Harder, which found that reasonable costs for deleting nondisclosable information must be paid by the person who requests the records.
In addition to limiting the use of marijuana, the Kansas Attorney General’s Opinion addresses the possession of cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol or THC. Those two compounds are prohibited under Kansas law, but the Attorney General must defend these substances as they do not violate the state’s constitution. But the Attorney General’s opinion may be outdated after the passage of 2018 Senate Bill 282, which changes the drug schedules and criminal code and allows the possession of CBD without THC.
The Kansas Attorney General’s Opinions are organized by date, and by the agencies within the state government. The Office of the Auditor of State and the Office of the Attorney General are the two most prominent. Although the Office of the Attorney General is not a single entity, it has multiple subunits. There are many Kansas attorney general opinions related to the state government’s budgeting process. There are some other governmental agencies that have an interest in this case as well.
In the COVID-19 pandemic, the Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2004-32 sets forth the recommended framework for criminal enforcement. The opinion does not address other emergency powers, but it does define the standard for criminal prosecution. Therefore, it’s important to read these opinions in context. They’ll help you make an informed decision on the state of a drug-free area. You’ll also be able to determine whether this Opinion applies to you.
While it’s not yet clear whether social security numbers are public, the opinion is a clear step toward ensuring that criminals are held accountable for their crimes. In both opinions, the Attorney General finds there is no expectation of privacy for social security numbers and that disclosing them to crime victims has no public interest. This would eliminate the guesswork associated with these matters. It also prevents the Attorney General from wasting time and resources analyzing social security numbers and deciding whether to release them.
One case involving the Register of Deeds involves the reasonable basis in law and fact, as discussed above. Hence, the district court did not err in denying attorney fees to Data Tree. However, the court found that the Register of Deeds did not act improperly in denying Data Tree access to its records. This case is a strong example of the role of an attorney in a land dispute and is an important case in the law.
