Alcohol laws of Kansas
Kansas's strict and highly regulated approach to alcohol stems from lingering vestiges of its long era of prohibition.
[1] As of April 2017, Kansas still has not ratified the Twenty-first Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which ended nationwide prohibition in 1933.
Before statewide legislation prohibiting the sale of alcohol came into being, several Kansas towns including Topeka, Emporia, and Baldwin, enacted local liquor laws, which for instance made the sale of alcohol at any commercial property illegal.
[4] The prohibition amendment allowed the Kansas Legislature to define what constituted "intoxicating liquor".
[4] In 1948, voters approved an amendment to the Kansas Constitution authorizing the legislature to "regulate, license and tax the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquor ... regulate the possession and transportation of intoxicating liquor.
[4] In 1979, the Legislature permitted on-premises sales of liquor by the drink in private clubs, leading many existing CMB saloons to start selling liquor but charge the consumer a one-time "membership fee".
[6] He also forced airlines to stop serving liquor while traveling through Kansas airspace.
[7] After 2005, it is likely that these restrictions would be found unconstitutional under the Supreme Court's decision in Granholm v. Heald, 544 U.S. 460 (2005).
Finally, in 1986, the electorate voted to repeal the prohibition on open saloons in Kansas, effective January 1, 1987.
[4] In 2003, the District Court of Wyandotte County ruled that the ban on Sunday liquor sales was unconstitutional because it did not apply uniformly to all communities.
[9] Since June 2012, bars are able to offer happy-hour specials after more than 25 years of being able to reduce prices only if they'd done so for the entire day.
And the growing business of microdistilleries is freed to produce up to 50,000 gallons of liquor a year, offer free samples and sell bottles of their product, much as microbreweries have done.
Finally, the state has defined Kansas wine: one that has at least 30 percent of ingredients grown in-state.
On April 1, 2019, Senate Bill 13 went into effect allowing CMB (cereal malt beverage) retail stores to sell beer 6% alcohol by volume or less.
[4] Kansas lifted the ban on the importation of alcohol from other states other than by a licensed distributor in 2009.
[4] Retail liquor stores may sell beer, wine, spirits, and nonalcoholic malt beverages.
[4] A retail liquor store must be in an area zoned for commercial use, cannot be located within 200 feet (61 m) of a school, college, or church, and cannot have an indoor entrance or an opening which connects with another business.
[4] A prohibition against offering customers free samples of liquor was repealed as of July 1, 2012.
[4] As of August 2, 2023, Wallace County is the last which has never approved the 1986 amendment and therefore continues to prohibit any and all sale of liquor by the drink.
[1] Forty-four counties have approved the 1986 amendment without limitation and allow liquor to be sold by the drink on-premises without any food sales requirement.
In those counties which allow liquor to be sold on-premises by the drink, clubs and drinking establishments may sell beer, wine, spirits, nonalcoholic malt beverages, and cereal malt beverages any day, but not between 2 AM and 9 AM.
[4] A prohibition against limited drink specials, such as "happy hours" or "ladies' nights", was repealed as of July 1, 2012.
[11] To go alcohol beverage sales by those with on-premises licenses, originally allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are now permitted till 11pm "as long as the drinks are in tamper-evident packaging".
[4] Refusal to take a chemical test (i.e. breathalyzer) when so requested by a law enforcement officer who has probable cause will result in a one-year suspension of the suspect's driver's license.
