Cartoon illustration from the 1960 constitutional Home Rule campaign.
In 2021, we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Home Rule amendment. Before 1960, a state statute was required to authorize a city to take action on a particular issue — a city had no power to act at the local level. If a city wanted to move on anything, from animal control to fire prevention, they first had to petition the state legislature for statutory permission. This type of state oversight prevented cities from being innovative and adapting to the rapidly changing environments in which they continue to operate.
Since 1961, Kansas has been a Home Rule state via constitutional amendment; meaning that the people of Kansas have decided that they primarily prefer their local governments, rather than the state, making decisions for their communities. The basic power granted to cities by the Home Rule amendment are included in these few words: “Cities are hereby empowered to determine their local affairs and government.” On the one hand, Home Rule grants cities the power to legislate their local affairs and government. On the other hand, it restricts the power of the state legislature to treat cities differently and to enact binding nonuniform restrictions on local affairs.
Article 12, §5(b) of the Kansas Constitution empowers cities to determine local affairs and government including the levying of taxes, fees, charges, and other exaction. Some common examples of cities using Home Rule for local decisions include setting ordinances for property maintenance and code enforcement, determining local zoning areas, and creating a process for staggering governing body terms of office. Home Rule recognizes the need for local people solving local problems locally, allowing them to preserve the community’s unique identity.
We have put together a digital toolkit for your city to help us celebrate Home Rule in Kansas. We encourage you to use our graphics and tools to educate your residents about Home Rule and why it matters to your city. Tag us on social media and help spread the message that local control matters to Kansas cities!
Digital Toolkit City proclamation for October 11, 2021 {download editable Word file}
Graphics {use on city websites, in city newsletters, on city social media, etc.}:
To download, click on the image below, then, when it opens "right click" and choose "save image as." Save to your computer and then use as you would any other graphics. These images are sized for social media platforms.
- Social Media Graphics (Facebook and Twitter):
- Graphic 1 - What is Home Rule?
- Graphic 2 - Home Rule Allows
- Graphic 3 - Home Rule Allows for Local Decision in a Changing World
- Graphic 4 - Local Decisions for Your Local Community
- Graphic 5 - Home Rule is Local Control
- Graphic 6 - Home Rule Allows Local Cities to Decide Local Funding
- Graphic 7 - Government of the People, by the People, for the People
- Web Slider Graphics:
- Graphic 1 - What is Home Rule?
- Graphic 2 - Home Rule Allows
- Graphic 3 - Home Rule Allows for Local Decision in a Changing World
- Graphic 4 - Local Decisions for Your Local Community
- Graphic 5 - Home Rule is Local Control
- Graphic 6 - Home Rule Allows Local Cities to Decide Local Funding
- Graphic 7 - Government of the People, by the People, for the People
Talking Points {use these points when you talk about Home Rule with your community}:
Home Rule allows local people, making local decisions, to provide for the unique needs of each of the 625 cities in Kansas. The needs of Kansas cities are diverse and differ from rural to urban, east to west, and even from neighbor-to-neighbor.
Uniform state laws don’t always serve the diverse needs of our communities, and Home Rule allows many of those decisions to be made by local officials elected by the people.
Do you live in a rural community and want to have livestock at your residence in the city-limits? There’s a local ordinance for that! Do you live in an urban area and annoyed with your neighbor’s trendy back-yard chickens? There’s a local ordinance for that! Home Rule allows your city to craft its own animal and livestock ordinances, without interference from the State.
Love or hate people zipping around town on e-scooters? Home Rule gives your community the ability to regulate, ban, or allow with no regulation electric scooters, golf carts, riding lawn mowers, and all other types of vehicles, on your city streets and sidewalks.
Have problems with blighted structures in your community? Thanks to Home Rule, your city officials have the ability to craft local ordinances that meet the unique needs of your City in handling tough problems like abandoned housing and empty storefronts.
Does your city have a special sales tax that helps fund capital improvements, road repairs, or even your hospital? Home Rule allows communities to largely decided where and how their local tax dollars are raised and spent.
Happy that an industrial or manufacturing plant can’t locate in your back yard? Home Rule allows cities to create their own zoning ordinances that keep these facilities away from residential neighborhoods where they don’t belong.
Thank Kansas’s constitutional Home Rule for your community’s strong economic development and growth--because your city’s future belongs to YOU!
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