In 1990 the Kansas Legislature enacted the Kansas Farm, Animal, and Field Crop and Research Facilities Protection Act.  The purpose was to prevent activists from gaining access to farms and production facilities with the intent of producing videos or documenting mistreatment of livestock.

As with all ‘Ag Gag’ laws, the Animal Legal Defense Fund challenged the constitutionality on the basis of deprivation of First Amendment rights in 2018.  Following two favorable rulings in federal court, the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the law in a two-to-one decision that the need to disclose intentions to potential job applications violated free speech protection.

It is evident that Kansas will have to modify the law to conform in part to the Iowa equivalent, part of which was deemed constitutional by the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals.