Kansas Recording Laws (2026): One-Party Consent Rules

Kansas is a one-party consent state for phone calls, in-person conversations, and electronic communications. Under K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1), only the sender or receiver of a private communication must consent to recording. Illegal recording is a criminal offense and creates civil liability under K.S.A. 22-2518. The Kansas Supreme Court confirmed the one-party rule in State v. Roudybush, 235 Kan. 834, 686 P.2d 100 (1984).

Kansas recording law at a glance

For a deeper dive on any of these topics, see the Kansas recording laws in depth section below.

Recording in-person conversations in Kansas

Kansas applies the one-party rule to face-to-face conversations. K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1) makes it a crime to intercept a private communication without the consent of the sender or receiver. A participant in the conversation is the sender or receiver, so a participant may record without notifying anyone else.

State v. Roudybush, 235 Kan. 834, 686 P.2d 100 (1984) is the controlling precedent. A police informant wore a body transmitter during a face-to-face conversation with Roudybush. The Kansas Supreme Court held that only one party's consent was required and that once the informant consented, Roudybush had no standing to challenge the recording. The court analogized to the federal one-party rule under 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(c). The statute was renumbered from K.S.A. 21-4001 to K.S.A. 21-6101 effective July 1, 2011; the one-party construction migrated with the renumbering.

Two adjacent subsections set limits. Subsection (a)(3) criminalizes entering a place with intent to listen surreptitiously to private conversations. Subsection (a)(4) criminalizes installing or using a device for recording sounds in a private place without the consent of persons entitled to privacy. Both reach non-participant surveillance. Someone who plants a recorder in a bedroom, break room, or private office and leaves is not a participant under (a)(1); the conduct falls under (a)(4) instead.

Conversations in public spaces where no one has a reasonable expectation of privacy are generally outside K.S.A. 21-6101. Recording at a public park, sidewalk, restaurant dining room, or retail floor is lawful for anyone present. A "private place" under K.S.A. 21-6101(f) is a location where a person may reasonably expect to be safe from uninvited intrusion or surveillance.

Recording phone calls in Kansas

You can record any phone call you participate in under K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1). The one-party rule applies to landlines, mobile calls, VoIP (Zoom, Teams, Google Meet, FaceTime audio, WhatsApp voice), PBX and cloud-recorded calls, and voicemails. You do not need to announce the recording or use a beep tone.

Federal ECPA at 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) is also a one-party-consent rule for participant recording, matching the Kansas framework. A separate subsection, (a)(5), criminalizes installing a tap or splitter on the line without the consent of the person in control of the facilities, regardless of whether either speaker consented.

For interstate calls, the practical rule is to follow the strictest applicable state's law. Calls that touch California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, or Washington require disclosure to all parties. The simplest fix is a brief announcement at the start: "This call is being recorded." That satisfies all-party-consent statutes that allow recording upon notice plus continued participation.

For in-depth treatment of phone-call recording rules, see Kansas Phone Call Recording Laws.

Hidden cameras, doorbells, and nanny cams

The hidden-camera prohibition is K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(6). It reaches installing or using a camera of any type to videotape, film, photograph, or record an identifiable person under or through their clothing (upskirt), or a person who is nude or in a state of undress, with intent to invade that person's privacy, under circumstances in which that person has a reasonable expectation of privacy. Capture is a severity level 8 person felony on a first offense and a severity level 5 on a second or subsequent conviction within five years.

Subsection (a)(7) applies to dissemination of material obtained through a (a)(6) violation. Distribution is a severity level 5 person felony outright, even on a first offense. Kansas treats sharing voyeurism material as more harmful than the original capture.

Kansas does not have a separate stand-alone voyeurism statute. The voyeurism crime is consolidated inside K.S.A. 21-6101, the same section as the wiretap prohibition.

For your own property, a doorbell camera or exterior security camera aimed at public space or your own property is generally lawful. An audio-capable camera inside your home may trigger K.S.A. 21-6101 exposure when it records guests or workers in conversations to which no participant has consented. A camera placed inside a bathroom, locker room, dressing room, or other private space violates subsection (a)(6) regardless of who owns the premises.

For deeper coverage, see Kansas Security Camera Laws, Kansas Video Recording Laws, and Kansas Voyeurism Laws.

Penalties for illegal recording in Kansas

K.S.A. 21-6101 has a bifurcated penalty structure. The audio-interception core is misdemeanor. The visual and intimate-image prongs are felony, with the level determined by the subsection and the defendant's criminal-history score under K.S.A. 21-6804.

The misdemeanor caps come from K.S.A. 21-6602(a)(1) (jail) and K.S.A. 21-6611(b)(1) (fine). Severity level 8 felonies carry presumptive probation in some grid blocks; severity level 5 is presumptive imprisonment in most blocks. A court may also impose post-release supervision, restitution, no-contact orders, and (for sex-offense subsections) Kansas Offender Registration Act registration.

For civil liability, K.S.A. 22-2518 entitles a plaintiff to the greater of actual damages, $100 a day of violation, or a $1,000 minimum, plus punitive damages and reasonable attorney fees. Good-faith reliance on a court order is a complete defense. A separate common-law claim for intrusion upon seclusion, recognized in Werner v. Kliewer, 238 Kan. 289 (1985) and Froelich v. Adair, 213 Kan. 357 (1973), covers recording scenarios that fall outside the wire, oral, or electronic scope of K.S.A. 22-2518.

Recording the police in Kansas

Kansas is in the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit. The Tenth Circuit's record-the-police law developed in two steps.

Frasier v. Evans, 992 F.3d 1003 (10th Cir. 2021), cert. denied, 142 S. Ct. 427 (2021), arose from an August 2014 incident in Denver. Officers searched a bystander's tablet for video he had taken during a police arrest. The Tenth Circuit granted the officers qualified immunity, finding the right to record on-duty police was not "clearly established" in the circuit at the time of the 2014 conduct.

Irizarry v. Yehia, 38 F.4th 1282 (10th Cir. 2022) changed the picture. A journalist filming a May 2019 DUI stop was obstructed by an officer who shined a flashlight into the camera. The Tenth Circuit held that, as of May 2019, there was a clearly established First Amendment right to film on-duty police performing official duties in public. The officer was denied qualified immunity on the First Amendment retaliation claim.

Taken together, Kansas officers have been on notice since at least May 2019 that interfering with peaceful filming of police in public can support a Section 1983 claim. Practical limits: stay back a reasonable distance, do not block officers or emergency personnel, comply with lawful content-neutral time/place/manner orders, and do not trespass to film.

For more, see Kansas Laws on Recording Police.

Special topics in Kansas

AI deepfakes and SB 186 (2025)

Senate Bill 186 of 2025 (L. 2025 ch. 120 sec. 3), signed by Governor Laura Kelly on April 24, 2025 and effective July 1, 2025, amended K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(8) to expressly reach AI-altered or digitally modified intimate images of identifiable adults. Liability attaches even if the depicted person was never involved in creating any original image. The penalty mirrors (a)(8)'s baseline: severity level 8 person felony on a first offense, severity level 5 on a repeat within five years.

The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act (Pub. L. 119-12, signed May 19, 2025) layers a federal criminal prohibition and a 48-hour platform notice-and-takedown obligation (effective May 19, 2026) enforced by the FTC. Kansas victims now have a stacked remedy: state criminal prosecution under (a)(8), federal criminal prosecution, FTC complaint for platform non-compliance, and a civil claim under K.S.A. 22-2518.

Open meetings and KOMA

The Kansas Open Meetings Act (K.S.A. 75-4317 et seq.) requires open meetings of state and local public bodies. The Kansas Attorney General KOMA FAQ confirms that attendees may audio- and video-record open public meetings, subject only to reasonable rules to prevent disruption. A public body cannot prohibit recording outright. KOMA does not apply to the Kansas Legislature, courts, or properly noticed executive sessions under K.S.A. 75-4319.

Body-worn cameras and KORA

Kansas's body-camera regime is in K.S.A. 45-254 under the Kansas Open Records Act. Agencies must allow the subject of a recording, the parent or guardian of a minor subject, the subject's attorney, or certain heirs to listen to or view recordings within 20 days of a request. Kansas has no statewide body-camera deployment mandate; each agency decides. Correct citation is K.S.A. 45-254, not K.S.A. 75-7710 or K.S.A. 22-3431 (those sections are unrelated).

Workplace recording and NLRA overlay

A Kansas employee who participates in a workplace conversation can lawfully record it under K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1). For private-sector employers, the NLRB's decision in Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023) requires that any no-recording handbook rule advance a legitimate, substantial business interest that a narrower rule cannot serve. NLRB GC 25-07 (June 25, 2025) is narrow: it addresses surreptitious recording of collective-bargaining sessions only, not general workplace recording. Installing a hidden microphone in a break room, restroom, or private office to capture employee conversations to which the employer is not a party violates K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(4). For more, see Kansas Workplace Recording Laws.

Federal ECPA and FCC overlay

Federal ECPA at 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) is a one-party-consent floor matching Kansas law. FCC Declaratory Ruling 24-17 (released February 2024) classifies AI-generated and voice-cloned calls as "artificial or prerecorded voice" under the TCPA, requiring prior express written consent for marketing calls to wireless and residential numbers. FCC 24-24 (the One-to-One Consent Rule) was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit in Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, 127 F.4th 303 (11th Cir. 2025), mandate April 30, 2025; it is no longer in force. The old carrier disclosure rule at 47 C.F.R. § 64.501 was removed in 2017 and should not be cited.

HIPAA in Kansas clinical settings

The HIPAA Privacy Rule binds Kansas covered entities (University of Kansas Health System, Stormont Vail Health, Ascension Via Christi, Children's Mercy Kansas-side facilities, the Kansas City VA Medical Center, and others), not patients. A patient may record their own visit under one-party consent; a covered entity recording a patient needs HIPAA authorization. Facility policies barring third-party recording in clinical areas are private-property rules, not HIPAA mandates. For more, see Kansas Medical Recording Laws.

Recent legal developments

• July 1, 2025: SB 186 (L. 2025 ch. 120 sec. 3) takes effect, expanding K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(8) to cover AI-altered and digitally modified intimate images of identifiable adults.
• May 19, 2025: TAKE IT DOWN Act (Pub. L. 119-12) signed; federal criminal provision effective on signature; platform 48-hour takedown obligation effective May 19, 2026.
• April 24, 2025: Governor Laura Kelly signs SB 186 of 2025.
• April 30, 2025: Eleventh Circuit mandate issues vacating FCC 24-24 (One-to-One Consent Rule); rule is no longer in force.
• June 25, 2025: NLRB GC 25-07 declares surreptitious recording of collective-bargaining sessions a per se unfair labor practice.
• 2022: Irizarry v. Yehia, 38 F.4th 1282 (10th Cir. 2022) establishes clearly established First Amendment right to film police in public as of May 2019 in the Tenth Circuit (binding in Kansas).

Kansas recording laws in depth

Want to know more? Each page below covers a specific recording-law context in greater depth.

By type of recording

• Kansas Audio Recording Laws
• Kansas Video Recording Laws
• Kansas Phone Call Recording Laws
• Kansas Voyeurism Laws
• Kansas Dashcam Laws: Mounting Rules, Audio Recording, and Evidence (2026)

By place or relationship

• Kansas Workplace Recording Laws
• Kansas Laws on Recording Police
• Kansas Laws on Recording in Public
• Kansas Security Camera Laws
• Kansas Landlord-Tenant Recording Laws
• Kansas Medical Recording Laws: Patient Rights, HIPAA, and Consent (2026)
• Kansas School Recording Laws: Student, Parent, and Teacher Rights (2026)

More Kansas laws

• Kansas Alimony Laws
• Kansas At-Will Employment Laws
• Kansas Child Custody Laws
• Kansas Child Support Laws
• Kansas Data Privacy Laws

This article is general legal information, not legal advice. Recording laws change and apply differently to each situation. For advice about your situation, consult a licensed Kansas attorney.

More Kansas Laws

• Kansas AI Meeting Recording Laws
• Kansas Alimony Laws
• Kansas At-Will Employment Laws
• Kansas Car Accident Laws
• Kansas Car Seat Laws
• Kansas Child Custody Laws
• Kansas Child Support Laws
• Kansas Common Law Marriage Laws
• Kansas Data Privacy Laws
• Kansas Deepfake Laws
• Kansas Divorce Laws
• Kansas Dog Bite Laws
• Kansas Emancipation Laws
• Kansas Expungement Laws
• Kansas Hit and Run Laws
• Kansas Landlord-Tenant Laws