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Publications icon2026 Session Laws of Kansas

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MESSAGES FROM THE GOVERNOR

House Substitute for Senate Bill No. 244

An Act concerning identification of biological sex; requiring the designation of multiple-
occupancy private spaces in public buildings for use by only one sex; imposing criminal and civil penalties for violations; providing a cause of action for individuals aggrieved by an invasion of privacy or other harm when accessing a multiple-occupancy private space; amending the women’s bill of rights; defining the term “gender” to mean biological sex at birth for purposes of statutory construction; directing the director of the division of vehicles to invalidate and reissue driver’s licenses when necessary to correct the gender identification on such licenses; directing the office of vital statistics to invalidate and reissue birth certificates when necessary to correct the sex identification on such certificates; removing the definition of “gender” from the help not harm act; amending K.S.A. 8-234a and K.S.A. 2025 Supp. 8-243, 65-28,137 and 77-207 and repealing the existing sections.

Message to the Legislature of the State of Kansas

This poorly drafted bill will have numerous and significant consequences far beyond the intent to limit the right for trans people to use the appropriate bathroom.

Under this bill:

If your grandfather is in a nursing home in a shared room, as a granddaughter, you would not be able to visit him.

If your wife is in a shared hospital room, as a husband, you would not be able to visit her.

If your sister is living in a dorm at K-State, as a brother, you would not be able to visit her in her room.

If you feel you have to accompany your nine-year-old daughter to the restroom at a sporting event, as a father, you would have to either enter the women’s restroom with her or let her use the restroom alone.

I believe the Legislature should stay out of the business of telling
Kansans how to go to the bathroom and instead stay focused on how to make life more affordable for Kansans.

Therefore, pursuant to Article 2, Section 14(a) of the Constitution of the State of Kansas, I hereby veto House Substitute for Senate Bill 244.

Laura Kelly, Governor

Dated February 13, 2026.

Secretary of State Seal