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 it can also lead to a civil lawsuit, although whether Kansas's own civil-damages statute, K.S.A. 22-2518, reaches a private person's recording is unsettled. The Kansas Supreme Court adopted the one-party reading in State v. Wigley, 210 Kan. 472, 502 P.2d 819 (1972) and reaffirmed it for face-to-face recording 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.

The one-party construction of that language comes from State v. Wigley, 210 Kan. 472, 502 P.2d 819 (1972), which involved a taped telephone conversation between the defendant and an informer who consented to the recording. The Kansas Supreme Court held there was no violation of the provision then numbered K.S.A. 21-4002(1)(a), which "enjoins interception without the consent of either the sender or the receiver."

State v. Roudybush, 235 Kan. 834, 686 P.2d 100 (1984) reaffirmed that reading and extended it to face-to-face recording. A police informant wore a body transmitter into Roudybush's home during a marijuana buy. The court found no violation of the eavesdropping provisions then numbered K.S.A. 21-4001(1)(a) and (1)(b): the informant was an invited party to the conversation, not the "unknown and uninvited presence" the surreptitious-listening prohibition is aimed at, and the officers neither entered the property nor planted the device themselves. The court separately held that a face-to-face private conversation between a police informer and a suspect is not an "oral communication" under K.S.A. 22-2514, so no ex parte court order was needed to intercept it. It reached the same result the federal one-party rule reaches under 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(c) and (d).

The two statutes Roudybush construed no longer carry those numbers. The 2010 recodification of the Kansas criminal code (L. 2010, ch. 136, sec. 171) consolidated the former eavesdropping statute (K.S.A. 21-4001) and the former breach-of-privacy statute (K.S.A. 21-4002) into the single section now numbered K.S.A. 21-6101. Today's subsection (a)(1) is old 21-4002(1)(a) carried forward word for word; old 21-4001 supplied what are now subsections (a)(3) and (a)(4).

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 can fall under (a)(4) instead if the room is a private place.

Conversations in public spaces where no one has a reasonable expectation of privacy are generally outside K.S.A. 21-6101. Openly recording what anyone nearby can see and hear in a park, on a sidewalk, or on a store floor is generally lawful. Secretly recording a private conversation you are not part of, even in a public place such as a restaurant booth, can still violate federal wiretap law, which protects a conversation held with a justified expectation that it is not being intercepted (18 U.S.C. 2510(2)). A "private place" under K.S.A. 21-6101(g)(4) (relettered from (f) by HB 2479 in 2026) 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.

K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1)'s interception language reaches a private communication while it is being sent, not a message that has already been delivered and is accessed later. In State v. Brooks, 46 Kan. App. 2d 601, 265 P.3d 1175 (2011), rev'd on other grounds, 298 Kan. 672, 317 P.3d 54 (2014), the Kansas Court of Appeals reversed a breach-of-privacy conviction for insufficient evidence because the defendant accessed his ex-wife's email account and copied messages she had sent seven to nine months earlier; surreptitiously accessing communications that far after the fact did not amount to "interception." The distinction matters for email specifically: copying messages already sitting in someone's email account, months after they were sent, falls outside K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1), even though it may still raise other legal exposure.

For interstate calls, no statute or controlling decision says which state's law governs. Courts decide case by case, and they have reached different answers. Thirteen states require every party's consent for at least some recordings: California, Connecticut (phone calls), Delaware (conflicting statutes), Florida, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada (phone calls), New Hampshire, Oregon (in-person conversations, not calls), Pennsylvania, and Washington. If anyone on the call may be in one of those states, check both states' rules and tell everyone at the start: "This call is being recorded." Getting an express "yes" is safer still, because not every all-party state treats a notice plus staying on the line as consent.

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). As amended by HB 2479 (effective July 1, 2026), it reaches intentionally installing or using any device or software to record or view, by electronic or other means, the nude body of another identifiable person or the undergarments that person is wearing (upskirt images), without that person's consent or knowledge, 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.

Since July 1, 2026, capture is a severity level 5 person felony even on a first offense when the victim is 14 to 17. When the offender is 18 or older and the victim is under 14, it is an off-grid person felony (a felony the sentencing guidelines grid does not rank), and so is an attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit it.

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, and since July 1, 2026 it is an off-grid person felony when an adult offender's victim is under 14. When the victim is an adult, 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 hidden camera in a bathroom, locker room, dressing room, or similar private space that records or lets someone view a person who is nude, or the undergarments they are wearing, without that person's knowledge or consent, is a felony under subsection (a)(6), no matter who owns the property. A device there that picks up conversations can also violate subsection (a)(4).

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. The severity level depends on the subsection, any repeat conviction, and (since July 1, 2026) the victim's age; the sentence range then depends on 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). Felony fines follow a separate scale: because subsections (a)(6) through (a)(8) are felonies, a court may also impose a fine on top of any prison term under K.S.A. 21-6611: up to $100,000 for severity levels 6 through 10 under subsection (a)(3), up to $300,000 for severity level 5 felonies (such as repeat offenses and the dissemination felony) under subsection (a)(2), and up to $500,000 for an off-grid felony under subsection (a)(1). Severity level 8 felonies carry presumptive probation in most grid blocks (all but the two highest criminal-history categories); severity level 5 is presumptive imprisonment in most blocks. A court may also impose post-release supervision, restitution, and no-contact orders. A conviction under subsection (a)(6), (a)(7), or (a)(8) also requires registration as a sex offender under the Kansas Offender Registration Act (K.S.A. 22-4902), and a second conviction of a registrable offense means lifetime registration (K.S.A. 22-4906(c)).

For civil liability, K.S.A. 22-2518 lets a person whose wire, oral, or electronic communication is intercepted, disclosed, or used "in violation of this act" recover actual damages of at least $100 a day of violation or $1,000, whichever is greater, plus punitive damages and reasonable attorney fees. Good-faith reliance on a court order is a complete defense.

"This act" is Kansas's court-ordered wiretap statute (K.S.A. 22-2514 to 22-2519), not the breach-of-privacy statute, and we have not found a Kansas appellate decision applying 22-2518 to a private person's illegal recording. Whether it reaches a private defendant is unsettled. The federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. 2520, does allow a civil suit against a private person who illegally intercepts a call or conversation. A separate common-law claim for intrusion upon seclusion, recognized in Froelich v. Adair, 213 Kan. 357 (1973) and applied in Werner v. Kliewer, 238 Kan. 289 (1985), can cover recording scenarios, including hidden video, that no wiretap statute reaches.

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. Since July 1, 2026, Kansas also makes it a class B person misdemeanor (K.S.A. 21-6333, enacted in Senate Substitute for HB 2372) to knowingly approach or stay within 25 feet of a police officer, firefighter, or EMS provider at work after being signaled to stay back for safety reasons, if doing so distracts the responder or raises concern about harm. After such a signal, record from beyond 25 feet.

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 can pursue state criminal charges under (a)(8), federal criminal charges under the TAKE IT DOWN Act, and an FTC complaint against a platform that fails to remove reported images. For money damages, the federal civil remedy is 15 U.S.C. 6851, which lets a person sue someone who discloses an intimate image of them without consent. K.S.A. 22-2518 covers intercepted communications, not shared images.

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 right to record one is in the act itself, not in agency guidance: K.S.A. 75-4318(e) provides that "the use of cameras, photographic lights and recording devices shall not be prohibited at any meeting mentioned by subsection (a), but such use shall be subject to reasonable rules designed to insure the orderly conduct of the proceedings at such meeting." A public body may set reasonable order-keeping rules, but it cannot prohibit recording outright. The Kansas Attorney General's KOMA resources are a useful plain-language guide to the rest of the act. KOMA covers legislative bodies, including legislative committees, except where the rules of the Kansas Senate or House provide otherwise (K.S.A. 75-4318(g)(4)). It does not cover the courts, quasi-judicial deliberations (K.S.A. 75-4318(g)(1)), or the closed portion of a lawful executive session 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, under the NLRB's decision in Stericycle, Inc., 372 NLRB No. 113 (Aug. 2, 2023), a no-recording handbook rule that would reasonably tend to discourage protected activity is presumptively unlawful unless the employer shows it advances a legitimate and substantial business interest that a more narrowly tailored rule could not serve. Stericycle remains the Board's standard, though the current Board has signaled it may revisit it. 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 can violate K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(4) if the room is a private place. 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. The FCC's one-to-one consent rule for lead-generated calls (adopted in FCC 23-107) was vacated by the Eleventh Circuit in Insurance Marketing Coalition Ltd. v. FCC, 127 F.4th 303 (11th Cir. 2025), and never took effect. FCC 24-24, the separate 2024 order on revoking consent, was not vacated by that decision. 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 may record a patient visit for treatment or health care operations without a separate HIPAA authorization (45 C.F.R. 164.506), but the recording becomes protected health information it must safeguard, and using it for other purposes, such as marketing, needs the patient's written 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, 2026: HB 2479 (L. 2026 ch. 114 sec. 8, signed April 9, 2026) takes effect. K.S.A. 21-6101's mental state becomes "intentionally," subsection (a)(6) reaches any device or software used to record or view, an (a)(6) offense against a victim aged 14 to 17 becomes a severity level 5 felony, and an (a)(6) or (a)(7) offense by an offender 18 or older against a child under 14 becomes an off-grid felony.
• July 1, 2026: The unlawful-approach-of-a-first-responder crime (K.S.A. 21-6333, Senate Substitute for HB 2372, enacted over the governor's veto on April 9, 2026) takes effect.
• 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.
• 2025: In Insurance Marketing Coalition v. FCC, the Eleventh Circuit vacates the FCC's one-to-one consent rule (adopted in FCC 23-107) before it took effect.
• June 25, 2025: NLRB Acting General Counsel memo GC 25-07 directs regional offices to treat secretly recording collective-bargaining sessions as a per se unfair labor practice. It is enforcement guidance, not a Board decision.
• 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 Dashcam Laws
• Kansas Data Privacy Laws
• Kansas Deepfake Laws
• Kansas Employee Monitoring Laws
• Kansas GPS Tracking Laws
• Kansas Police Bodycam Laws
• Kansas Smart Glasses Recording Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Kansas a one-party or two-party consent state?

Kansas is a one-party consent state. K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1) prohibits intercepting a private communication without the consent of the sender or receiver. The Kansas Supreme Court read that language in State v. Wigley, 210 Kan. 472, 502 P.2d 819 (1972) as reaching only interceptions made without the consent of either the sender or the receiver, and reaffirmed the point for face-to-face recording in State v. Roudybush, 235 Kan. 834, 686 P.2d 100 (1984). A participant can record a phone call or in-person conversation without telling the other party.

Can I record a phone call in Kansas without telling the other person?

Yes, if you are a party to the call. K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1) requires only the sender's or receiver's consent, and federal ECPA at 18 U.S.C. § 2511(2)(d) applies the same rule. You do not need to announce the recording. For interstate calls, courts decide case by case which state's law applies. If the other person may be in an all-party consent state such as California, Florida, Illinois, Pennsylvania, or Washington, tell everyone at the start that you are recording and ask for a yes.

What is the penalty for illegal recording in Kansas?

It depends on the subsection. Subsections (a)(1) through (a)(5) (audio interception, disclosure, surreptitious entry, private-place device, tap-the-line) are Class A nonperson misdemeanors: up to 1 year in jail under K.S.A. 21-6602 and up to a $2,500 fine under K.S.A. 21-6611. Hidden-camera capture under (a)(6) is a severity level 8 person felony on a first offense and level 5 on a repeat within five years. Dissemination of voyeurism imagery under (a)(7) is a severity level 5 person felony outright. NCII or AI-deepfake dissemination under (a)(8) is level 8 on a first offense and level 5 on a repeat within five years. Since July 1, 2026, an (a)(6) offense against a victim aged 14 to 17 is level 5, and an (a)(6) or (a)(7) offense by an adult against a child under 14 is an off-grid person felony. Convictions under (a)(6) through (a)(8) require sex-offender registration. Sentencing ranges depend on criminal-history score under K.S.A. 21-6804.

Can I sue someone for recording me illegally in Kansas?

Possibly. K.S.A. 22-2518 allows actual damages of at least $100 a day of violation or $1,000, whichever is greater, plus punitive damages and attorney fees, for a communication intercepted in violation of Kansas's court-ordered wiretap act. Whether it reaches a private person's recording is unsettled, because we found no Kansas appellate decision applying it that way. The federal Wiretap Act, 18 U.S.C. 2520, does allow a suit against a private person who illegally intercepts a call or conversation, and common-law intrusion upon seclusion can cover hidden video. The two-year limitations period under K.S.A. 60-513(a)(4) likely applies.

Are Ring doorbells and nanny cams legal in Kansas?

An exterior camera aimed at public space or your own property is generally lawful. A hidden camera in a bathroom, locker room, dressing room, or similar private space that records or lets someone view a person who is nude, or their undergarments, without that person's knowledge or consent, violates K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(6) no matter who owns the property. An audio-capable indoor camera may trigger liability under K.S.A. 21-6101 when it records conversations in which no participant has consented.

Can I record my boss or an HR meeting in Kansas?

Yes, as a participant. Kansas's one-party rule under K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(1) applies to workplace conversations. Your employer may still discipline or terminate you for violating a no-recording workplace policy, even if the recording is legal under Kansas law. Under the NLRB's Stericycle standard, which the current Board has signaled it may revisit, a broad no-recording rule is presumptively unlawful unless the employer shows a legitimate and substantial business interest that a more narrowly tailored rule could not serve.

Can I record the police in Kansas?

Yes. The Tenth Circuit, which includes Kansas, held in Irizarry v. Yehia, 38 F.4th 1282 (10th Cir. 2022) that there is a clearly established First Amendment right to film on-duty police in public as of May 2019. Do not interfere with police activity, record from a reasonable distance, and comply with lawful time, place, and manner orders.

What did Kansas SB 186 of 2025 change about AI deepfakes?

SB 186 (L. 2025 ch. 120 sec. 3), effective July 1, 2025, amended K.S.A. 21-6101(a)(8) to cover AI-altered or digitally modified intimate images of identifiable adults. Liability attaches even if the depicted person had no involvement in creating any original image. Dissemination with intent to harass, threaten, or intimidate is a severity level 8 person felony (first offense) or level 5 (repeat within five years). The federal TAKE IT DOWN Act (Pub. L. 119-12) adds a federal criminal prohibition and a 48-hour platform takedown obligation effective May 19, 2026.