Kansas Window Tint: 35% on Every Window, AS1 Line on the Windshield

K.S.A. 8-1749a applies to any motor vehicle required to be registered in Kansas and operated on Kansas highways. It reaches one-way glass and any "sun screening device," a term K.S.A. 8-1749b(a) defines as "a film material or device that is designed to be used in conjunction with motor vehicle safety glazing materials for reducing the effects of the sun." The same definitions section supplies the metric: 8-1749b(b) defines "light transmission" as the ratio of total light passing through the product or material, including any safety glazing material, to the total light falling on it and the glazing, and 8-1749b(d) defines "nonreflective" as material designed to absorb light rather than reflect it.

The windshield rule is in 8-1749a(a)(1). Film on a Kansas windshield must be nonreflective, must not be red, yellow or amber, may be used only along the top, and must not extend downward beyond the AS1 line, which the paragraph says must be clearly defined and marked. Kansas does not offer the alternative many states allow of measuring down a set number of inches from the top of the glass; the AS1 line marked by the glass manufacturer is the boundary.

The side and rear rule is in 8-1749a(a)(2) and (a)(3). Paragraph (2) requires film on the side wings, the side windows immediately right and left of the driver, the side windows behind the driver and the rearmost window all to be nonreflective. Paragraph (3) then sets 35% as the minimum total light transmission when a sun screening device is used in conjunction with other existing sun screening devices, and it does not distinguish front from rear. Subsection (b) creates one exception to the 35% figure and it is narrow: it does not apply to a window of a law enforcement motor vehicle.

The medical route is in 8-1749a(c) and it is not a general tint waiver. It applies only to clear, colorless and transparent material, which must have a minimum visible light transmittance of 78%, must leave the glazing meeting federal motor vehicle safety standard no. 205 including that standard's minimum light transmittance of 70% and the abrasion resistance of AS-14 glazing, and must be designed and manufactured to enhance the glass's ability to block ultraviolet A or B rays. The driver or occupant must hold a signed statement from a licensed physician or licensed optometrist that identifies the person with reasonable specificity and states that in the professional's opinion the material is necessary to safeguard that person's health. If the material tears, bubbles or is otherwise worn so as to prevent clear vision, 8-1749a(c)(5) requires it to be removed or replaced.

Kansas gives a cure period rather than an instant conviction for the paperwork failure. Under 8-1749a(d) a driver cited for failing to possess the signed statement has 60 days either to produce a signed statement in court or to remove the material, and if the driver does so, or satisfies the court that the material has been removed, the court "shall dismiss the citation."

Two further provisions round out the section. Subsection (f) preserves labels, stickers and other informational signs required or permitted by state law, so an inspection or registration decal is not a violation. Subsection (g) is a separate prohibition aimed at headlights: no registered Kansas vehicle may be operated with head lamps covered by any sun screening device, adhesive film, glaze or application that is highly reflective or otherwise nontransparent when the lamps are off. Subsection (e) lets the superintendent of the highway patrol adopt rules and regulations to carry the section out.

On enforcement, Kansas is a roadside-only state, and the reason is structural rather than incidental. There is no periodic safety inspection for private passenger vehicles. The only inspection instruments in the vehicle equipment article are K.S.A. 8-1759, the signed Kansas Highway Patrol spot inspection, and K.S.A. 8-1759a, an inspection on reasonable cause to believe a vehicle is unsafe or not equipped as required, and neither section carries any transmittance figure. Nor does any regulation: a search of the Kansas Administrative Regulations on the Secretary of State's rules site for "light transmission" and for "sun screening" returns zero regulations, so the superintendent's rulemaking power under 8-1749a(e) has not produced a metered figure. The 35% number lives only in the statute and is measured at the roadside.

A. 8-1749a is guilty of a misdemeanor under subsection (h). A. A. 21-6611(b)(3) and (b)(4). A. 8-2118(c), where the ordinary equipment offences sit at $45 to $75. A. 8-1749c makes any person who installs a sun screening device on a motor vehicle that does not comply with 8-1749a guilty of a class C misdemeanor on conviction. A driver cited only for failing to carry the medical statement required by 8-1749a(c)(4) has 60 days under 8-1749a(d) to produce it in court or remove the material, and the court must then dismiss the citation.

A. A. 8-1759a; the Revisor's annotation to 8-1749a records State v. Kirk, 40 Kan. App. 2d 817 (2008), for the proposition that a violation of the section provided reasonable suspicion to stop the driver.