K.S.A. 12-1651(a) requires second and third class cities to designate an official city newspaper for the publishing of official city business, provided the newspaper meets the qualifications set forth in K.S.A. 12-1651(b). However, under the home rule provisions of the Kansas Constitution, Kan. Const. Art. 12, § 5, which allows cities to exempt themselves from nonuniform acts of the legislature, a city may exempt itself by charter ordinance from the requirements set forth in K.S.A. 12-1651 because the statute is not uniformly applicable as it applies only to second- and third-class cities. … As to the question of whether a city of the second class may instead designate its webpage as its “official city newspaper,” we see nothing in state law that prohibits a second class city, once it has exempted itself from K.S.A. 12-1651 by charter ordinance, from publishing official city business on its own website. However, we would note that publication by website would not be sufficient where some other form of publication is specifically mandated.
Source: Kansas Attorney General Opinions
