Kansas hasn’t told KC-area agencies how to enforce new trans ID law, they say
Roughly 1,800 Kansans’ state identification documents that align with their gender identities are no longer valid in the eyes of the state under a law that took effect Thursday.
But it’s not clear how local agencies will enforce that new rule in the Kansas City metro area.
Kansas Republicans, after overriding Gov. Laura Kelly’s veto of Senate Bill 244, implemented a law stipulating that people who are transgender, and who have changed their gender markers on their IDs, no longer have a valid driver’s license in the state of Kansas.
The Kansas Department of Revenue says that means people will have to get a new license that lists their sex assigned at birth. And the state’s not going to pay for people to go to the DMV and get a new license. Licenses normally cost about $30 a pop, but a KDOR spokesperson said the agency plans to charge $8 for license reissuances.
As questions mount about how this law will be enforced on the day-to-day, multiple local law enforcement agencies in Wyandotte and Johnson counties told The Star on Thursday that they hadn’t received directives or guidance from the state for its implementation.
And while at least one agency said it planned to follow the law as directed, another, the Overland Park Police Department, said it wasn’t going to actively seek out and pursue cases related to the new law.
“The Overland Park Police Department will not conduct an enforcement campaign on this issue,” public information officer John Lacy wrote in an email.
The Wyandotte County Sheriff’s Office said it hadn’t received any concrete directives on the law as of Thursday. But, the department will follow and enforce state law as required, Sheriff Daniel Soptic said.
The Johnson County Sheriff’s Office as of Thursday hadn’t heard anything from the state either, according to a spokesperson. The office is working with county staff to review the law and figure out steps forward “to ensure compliance.”
As of publication time, the Kansas City, Kansas Police Department and the Olathe Police Department did not respond to questions from The Star regarding their enforcement plans.
Trips to the DMV
The Kansas Department of Revenue mailed letters, dated Monday, to people who have changed their gender markers on their licenses through that state agency notifying them that those licenses would be deemed invalid starting Thursday.
People who don’t immediately get their credentials updated could be at risk of additional penalties, like a traffic violation, according to those letters. ID holders who are affected will only receive notice by mail, and the department of revenue is working on updating its website to include new information on the law change, a spokesperson told The Star.
But not everyone who is transgender in Kansas and who changed their markers had received a letter as of Thursday, according to a local activist. And the state search website that allows people to check the status of their license still shows some people’s licenses as active.
The Kansas Department of Revenue said in an email statement Thursday evening that licenses with amended gender markers that have not already been deemed invalid will be soon. Until the license data is updated, though, licenses listed as valid should be treated as valid by law enforcement, spokesperson Zachary Denney said.
“The KDOR Driver’s License Status Check page accurately reflects KDOR’s internal system, and what law enforcement entities will see if they check a license. The system is being updated, and as it is, the Status Check website will reflect changes made within the system,” Denney said.
The law as it’s written does not require local departments of motor vehicles to proactively revoke or issue new driver’s licenses, said Krystal McFeders, a spokesperson for the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and KCK.
Rather, the onus falls on the person whose driver’s license was deemed invalid to get a new one.
“Everyone in the state is affected the same way; the residents of our country are not impacted differently,” McFeders wrote in an email.
Local DMVs are run by the state department of revenue, meaning the staff that work at those offices work for the state, not local government.
The Kansas Department of Revenue did not respond to questions about how — or if — it has directed DMV employees regarding this law.
Andy Hyland, a spokesperson for Johnson County government, said he hadn’t heard if the local government had received directives from the state at this point regarding driver’s licenses. He instead referred The Star back to the state.
Local elections
Michael Abbott, who leads the Wyandotte County Election Office, said he wasn’t well versed on the bill as of Thursday, but that the office hadn’t received any directives from the state.
Abbott declined to discuss how the driver’s license law might affect local voter registration or turnout in county-administered elections. “At this time, I do not have sufficient information to provide a meaningful comment on this topic,” Abbott said. “I will wait for clarification or direction from the state before conducting further research and offering input.”
The Johnson County Election Office did not return a call from The Star on Thursday.
This story was originally published February 26, 2026 at 5:19 PM.
