Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2014-016

October 22, 2014
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2014- 16
Gary Anderson, Bond Counsel
Unified Government of
Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas
Gilmore & Bell
2405 Grand Avenue, Suite 1100
Kansas City, MO 64108-2521
Re: 	Cities 	and 	Municipalities—Ordinances 	of 	Cities—Publication; 	Effective
Date; Contingencies
Synopsis: 	An ordinary ordinance may include a contingency. 	The “day” of the
contingency may be stated as a specific calendar day or the occurrence of
an action or event. Cited herein: K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 12-3007.
* 	* 	*
Dear Mr. Anderson:
As Bond Counsel for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/Kansas City,
Kansas, you request our opinion regarding whether an ordinary ordinance is valid when
one section of it becomes operative upon the occurrence of a future event.
When reviewing an ordinance, there is a presumption of legality.
“When reviewing the constitutionality of an ordinance, [the court] must (1)
presume the ordinance is constitutional; (2) resolve all doubts in favor of
validating the ordinance; (3) uphold the ordinance if there is a reasonable
way to do so; and (4) strike down the ordinance only if it clearly appears to
be unconstitutional.” 1
According to a leading treatise on municipal law, “[t]he rule that a legislative body may
pass a law to take effect or go into operation upon the happening of a future event
1 City of Lincoln Center v. Farmway Co-op, Inc., 298 Kan. 540, 544 (2013).

Gary Anderson
Page 2
within a reasonable time after its passage has been applied to municipal ordinances.” 2
As the Missouri Supreme Court explained:
“In the absence of any constitutional or statutory prohibition, an ordinance
enacted by a municipal corporation may provide that it shall become
operative and effective only on the happening of a certain contingency. 	It
makes no difference what the nature of the contingency is as long as it is
a moral and legal one and is not opposed to public policy.”3
In Kansas, legislative acts have been upheld in cases when the contingency affects only
portions of the enactment. 4
Applying these principles, courts in other jurisdictions have upheld ordinances the
effective dates of which were delayed until identified laws were enacted by the state
legislature, 5 the terms of the ordinance were ratified by a majority of the municipality’s
electors6 or approved by the mayor, 7 court proceedings were resolved, 8 developers
completed certain conditions, 9 or certain funds were deposited with the municipality.10
In our opinion, Kansas law authorizes the adoption of an ordinary ordinance containing
a contingency. An ordinary ordinance adopted by a city in Kansas takes effect “the day
of publication unless a different and later day is stated in the ordinance or otherwise
specified by statute.”11 We believe the statute allows the “day” to be stated as a specific
calendar day or the happening of an action or event.
Sincerely,
Derek Schmidt
Attorney General
Richard D. Smith
Assistant Attorney General
DS:AA:RDS:sb
2 5 McQuillin Municipal Corporations § 15.39 (3rd ed. 2013).
3 Roeslein v. Chicago & E.I.R. Co., 214 S.W.2d 13, 16 (Mo. 1948). 	See also City of Miami Beach v.
Lansburgh, 218 So. 2d 519, 522 (Fla. 3rd Dist. Ct. App. 1969) (quoting Gaulden v. Kirk, 47 So. 2d 567,
575 (Fla. 1950)); 62 C.J.S. Municipal Corporations § 384 (2014).
4 See State v. Dumler, 221 Kan. 386 (1977) (act established maximum speed limits for different districts;
contingency applied only to districts subject to 55 mile-per-hour limitation). See also Phillips v. Vieux, 210
Kan. 612, 617 (1972) (“The rules for judicial interpretation of statutes are equally applicable to municipal
ordinances.”).
5 City of Miami Beach v. Lansburgh, 218 So. 2d at 522-23.
6 Brown v. City of Tampa, 6 So. 2d 287, 289 (Fla. 1942).
7 Rooney v. South Sioux City, 195 N.W. 474, 475 (Neb. 1923).
8 Mayor, etc. of Baltimore v. Clunet, 23 Md. 449, 469 (1865).
9 Konkel v. Common Council, City of Delafield, 229 N.W. 2d 606, 608-09 (Wis. 1975).
10 Heman Const. Co. v. Loevy, 64 Mo. App. 430, 432-33 (1896).
11 K.S.A. 2014 Supp. 12-3007. Appropriation ordinances are expressly excluded from the provision.