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Session of 2025
SENATE BILL No. 100
By Committee on Federal and State Affairs
1-29
AN ACT concerning housing; relating to denial of housing or other
adverse actions against tenants or prospective tenants on the basis of
past evictions or rental arrears; prohibiting the reporting of evictions or
rental arrears information by consumer reporting agencies or the use of
such information by landlords for adverse action against tenants after
three years from the date of the evictions or rental arrears; requiring
consumer reporting agencies to provide an opportunity for individuals
to explain any record of evictions or rental arrears; enacting the Kansas
fair chance housing and homelessness reduction act; amending K.S.A.
2024 Supp. 50-626 and repealing the existing section.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Kansas:
New Section 1. Sections 1 through 4, and amendments thereto, shall
be known and may be cited as the Kansas fair chance housing and
homelessness reduction act.
New Sec. 2. As used in sections 1 through 4, and amendments
thereto:
(a) "Adverse action" means a denial or cancellation of, an increase in
any charge for or any other adverse or unfavorable change in the terms of a
rental agreement applied for by a consumer, offered to a consumer or
previously entered into by a consumer for a dwelling unit.
(b) "Consumer" means an individual.
(c) "Consumer report" means any written, oral or other
communication of any information by a consumer reporting agency
bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity,
character, general reputation, personal characteristics, eviction history,
rental arrears or other residential or tenant history or mode of living that is
used or expected to be used or collected, in whole or in part, for the
purpose of serving as a factor in establishing the consumer's eligibility for:
(1) Credit or insurance to be used primarily for personal, family or
household purposes;
(2) employment purposes;
(3) renting a dwelling unit from a landlord as a tenant; or
(4) other purposes as permitted by federal or state law.
(d) "Consumer reporting agency" means any person that for monetary
fees, dues or on a cooperative nonprofit basis, regularly engages, in whole
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SB 100 2
or in part, in the practice of assembling or evaluating consumer credit
information or other information on consumers for the purpose of
furnishing consumer reports to third parties and uses any means or facility
of interstate commerce for the purpose of preparing or furnishing
consumer reports. "Consumer reporting agency" includes any consumer
reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers on a
nationwide basis, reseller or specialty consumer reporting agency.
(e) "Consumer reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on
consumers on a nationwide basis" means a consumer reporting agency that
regularly engages in the practice of assembling or evaluating, and
maintaining, for the purpose of furnishing consumer reports to third parties
bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing or credit
capacity, each of the following data regarding consumers residing
nationwide:
(1) Public record information; and
(2) credit account information from persons who furnish such
information regularly and in the ordinary course of business.
(f) "Dwelling unit" means a structure or the part of a structure that is
used as a home, residence or sleeping place by one person who maintains a
household or by two or more persons who maintain a common household.
"Dwelling unit" does not include real property used to accommodate a
manufactured home or mobile home, unless such manufactured home or
mobile home is rented or leased by the landlord.
(g) "File" when used in connection with information on any
consumer, means all of the information on the consumer recorded and
retained by a consumer reporting agency regardless of how the
information is stored.
(h) "Landlord" means the owner, lessor or sublessor of a dwelling
unit, or the building of which it is a part, and the manager of the premises.
(i) "Owner" means one or more persons, jointly or severally, in whom
is vested all or part of the:
(1) Legal title to property; or
(2) beneficial ownership and a right to prevent use and enjoyment of
the premises, including a mortgagee in possession.
(j) "Person" means any individual, partnership, corporation, limited
liability company, business trust, estate, cooperative, association or other
for-profit or nonprofit entity. "Person" does not include any governmental
agency or other governmental entity.
(k) "Premises" means a dwelling unit, and the structure of which it is
a part, and facilities and appurtenances therein and grounds, areas and
facilities held out for the use of tenants generally or the use of which is
promised to the tenant.
(l) "Rental agreement" means all agreements whether written or oral
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and enforceable rules and regulations adopted by a landlord pursuant to
K.S.A. 58-2556, and amendments thereto, embodying the terms and
conditions concerning the use and occupancy of a dwelling unit and
premise.
(m) "Rental arrears" means any late, unpaid or overdue rent and any
adverse information pertaining to the credit worthiness, credit standing,
credit capacity or an ability to make rental payments of a consumer arising
from a current or prior rental agreement entered into by the consumer.
(n) "Reseller" means a consumer reporting agency that:
(1) Assembles and merges information contained in the database of
another consumer reporting agency or multiple consumer reporting
agencies concerning any consumer for purposes of furnishing such
information to any third party; and
(2) does not maintain a database of the assembled or merged
information from which new consumer reports are produced.
(o) "Residential or tenant history" includes any information relating
to an eviction or to rental arrears.
(p) "Specialty consumer reporting agency" means a consumer
reporting agency that compiles and maintains files on consumers relating
to:
(1) Medical records or payments;
(2) residential or tenant history;
(3) check writing history;
(4) employment history; or
(5) insurance claims.
(q) "Tenant" means a consumer entitled under a rental agreement to
occupy a dwelling unit to the exclusion of others.
New Sec. 3. (a) (1) A consumer reporting agency shall not make or
furnish a consumer report that contains residential or tenant history that is
adverse to the consumer unless the consumer reporting agency has
contacted the consumer, advised the consumer of the residential or tenant
history to be included in such consumer report and offered the consumer
an opportunity to provide an explanation with respect to any such history.
The consumer reporting agency shall attempt to contact the consumer by
means of first-class mail addressed to the most current address of record of
the consumer, telephone to the most recent telephone number of record of
the consumer, if any, and email to the most recent email address of record
of the consumer, if any. Any explanation provided by the consumer shall
be included in the consumer report by the consumer reporting agency.
(2) The consumer report shall include a record of such attempts to
contact the consumer, and if the consumer reporting agency fails to
establish contact with the consumer, the reason for such failure. The
consumer reporting agency shall permit and provide the consumer with the
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opportunity to provide an explanation, whether verbally or in writing by
mail or email.
(3) The consumer report shall not be furnished until the consumer has
provided an explanation for any adverse residential or tenant history that is
included in the consumer report or 15 business days after the date of
mailing, by first-class mail, of the request for an explanation of the adverse
residential or tenant history, whichever occurs first. In efforts to contact
the consumer, the consumer reporting agency shall advise the consumer of
such deadline and provide a mailing address, email address and telephone
number by which the consumer may provide an explanation.
(b) No consumer reporting agency shall make any consumer report
containing any information or record pertaining to:
(1) An eviction of the consumer by a landlord from a dwelling unit
that antedate the report by more than three years; or
(2) rental arrears of the consumer, including accounts placed for
collection or charged to profit and loss that antedate the report by more
than three years. The three-year period shall begin with respect to any
rental arrears or delinquent account placed for collection, internally or by
referral to a third party, whichever is earlier, charged to profit and loss or
subjected to any similar action, upon the expiration of the 180-day period
beginning on the date of the commencement of the delinquency that
immediately preceded the collection activity, charge to profit and loss or
similar action.
(c) In considering whether to enter into a rental agreement with a
consumer for a dwelling unit or as a basis for taking any adverse action
against a tenant, no landlord shall:
(1) Consider any residential or tenant history prohibited by subsection
(b), whether provided by a consumer reporting agency, contained in a
consumer report or obtained by other means from any public or private
source; or
(2) consider any consumer report containing any residential or tenant
history that does not include an explanation by the consumer or a record of
attempts to contact such consumer as required by subsection (a).
(d) If a landlord declines to enter into a rental agreement with a
consumer for a dwelling unit, cancels such a rental agreement with a
tenant or alters the terms of such a rental agreement adversely to a tenant,
the landlord shall provide the consumer or tenant with any consumer
report or any residential or tenant history from any public or private source
obtained, consulted or considered by the landlord with respect to such
adverse action.
New Sec. 4. (a) A violation of any provision of section 3, and
amendments thereto, by a landlord or a consumer reporting agency is a
deceptive act or practice under the provisions of the Kansas consumer
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protection act and shall be subject to any and all of the enforcement
provisions of the Kansas consumer protection act.
Sec. 5. K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 50-626 is hereby amended to read as
follows: 50-626. (a) No supplier shall engage in any deceptive act or
practice in connection with a consumer transaction.
(b) Deceptive acts and practices include, but are not limited to, the
following, each of which is hereby declared to be a violation of this act,
whether or not any consumer has in fact been misled:
(1) Representations made knowingly or with reason to know that:
(A) Property or services have sponsorship, approval, accessories,
characteristics, ingredients, uses, benefits or quantities that they do not
have;
(B) the supplier has a sponsorship, approval, status, affiliation or
connection that the supplier does not have;
(C) property is original or new, if such property has been deteriorated,
altered, reconditioned, repossessed or is second-hand or otherwise used to
an extent that is materially different from the representation;
(D) property or services are of particular standard, quality, grade,
style or model, if they are of another which that differs materially from the
representation;
(E) the consumer will receive a rebate, discount or other benefit as an
inducement for entering into a consumer transaction in return for giving
the supplier the names of prospective consumers or otherwise helping the
supplier to enter into other consumer transactions, if receipt of benefit is
contingent on an event occurring after the consumer enters into the
transaction;
(F) property or services has uses, benefits or characteristics unless the
supplier relied upon and possesses a reasonable basis for making such
representation; or
(G) use, benefit or characteristic of property or services has been
proven or otherwise substantiated unless the supplier relied upon and
possesses the type and amount of proof or substantiation represented to
exist;
(2) the willful use, in any oral or written representation, of
exaggeration, falsehood, innuendo or ambiguity as to a material fact;
(3) the willful failure to state a material fact, or the willful
concealment, suppression or omission of a material fact;
(4) disparaging the property, services or business of another by
making, knowingly or with reason to know, false or misleading
representations of material facts;
(5) offering property or services without intent to sell them;
(6) offering property or services without intent to supply reasonable,
expectable public demand, unless the offer discloses the limitation;
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(7) making false or misleading representations, knowingly or with
reason to know, of fact concerning the reason for, existence of or amounts
of price reductions, or the price in comparison to prices of competitors or
one's own price at a past or future time;
(8) falsely stating, knowingly or with reason to know, that a consumer
transaction involves consumer rights, remedies or obligations;
(9) falsely stating, knowingly or with reason to know, that services,
replacements or repairs are needed;
(10) falsely stating, knowingly or with reason to know, the reasons
for offering or supplying property or services at sale or discount prices;
(11) sending or delivering a solicitation for goods or services which
that could reasonably be interpreted or construed as a bill, invoice or
statement of account due, unless:
(A) Such solicitation contains the following notice, on its face, in
conspicuous and legible type in contrast by typography, layout or color
with other printing on its face:
"THIS IS A SOLICITATION FOR THE PURCHASE OF GOODS OR
SERVICES AND NOT A BILL, INVOICE OR STATEMENT OF
ACCOUNT DUE. YOU ARE UNDER NO OBLIGATION TO MAKE
ANY PAYMENTS UNLESS YOU ACCEPT THIS OFFER"; and
(B) such solicitation, if made by any classified telephone directory
service not affiliated with a local telephone service in the area of service,
contains the following notice, on its face, in a prominent and conspicuous
manner:
"_____________________________ IS NOT
(name of telephone directory service)
AFFILIATED WITH ANY LOCAL TELEPHONE COMPANY";
(12) (A) using, in any printed advertisement, an assumed or fictitious
name for the conduct of such person's business that includes the name of
any municipality, community or region or other description of the
municipality, community or region in this state in such a manner as to
suggest that such person's business is located in such municipality,
community or region unless:
(A)(i) Such person's business is, in fact, located in such municipality,
community or region; or
(B)(ii) such person includes in any such printed advertisement the
complete street and city address of the location from which such person's
business is actually conducted. If located outside of Kansas, the state in
which such person's business is located also shall be included.
(B) The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to the use of any
trademark or service mark registered under the laws of this state or under
federal law;, any such name that, when applied to the goods or services of
such person's business, is merely descriptive of them ;, or any such name
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SB 100 7
that is merely a surname. Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to
impose any liability on any publisher when such publisher had no
knowledge that the business was not, in fact, located in such municipality,
community or region;
(13) (A) making an oral solicitation for products or services based on
a mortgage trigger lead unless the solicitation clearly and conspicuously
states in the initial phase of the solicitation that the solicitor is not
affiliated with the lender or broker with which the consumer initially
applied and that the solicitation is based on personal information about the
consumer that was purchased, directly or indirectly, from a consumer
reporting agency without the knowledge or permission of the lender or
broker with which the consumer initially applied;
(B) making a written solicitation for products or services based on a
mortgage trigger lead unless the solicitation clearly and conspicuously
states on the first page of the solicitation that the solicitor is not affiliated
with the lender or broker with which the consumer initially applied and
that the solicitation is based on personal information about the consumer
that was purchased, directly or indirectly, from a consumer reporting
agency without the knowledge or permission of the lender or broker with
which the consumer initially applied. A clear and conspicuous shall include
statement of such solicitation includes having legible type in contrast by
typography, layout or color with other printing on the first page of the
correspondence; and
(C) any solicitor under clause (A) or (B) shall be in compliance with
the provisions of the Kansas mortgage business act, unless otherwise
exempted from such act, and any other law or regulation; and
(14) failing to release funds representing an insurance settlement
payment for damage to real property subject to a mortgage by the
mortgage holder to the mortgagor within 30 days after receiving written
proof that the damaged property is replaced or otherwise repaired to the
satisfaction of the mortgagor and the mortgage holder. Any person who
submits false information regarding the condition of the property shall be
liable in damages to the mortgage holder or the mortgage holder's assignee
for the amount of the funds together with interest thereon, attorney fees,
and any additional damages that the mortgage holder or the mortgage
holder's assignee has incurred; and
(15) willfully violating the provisions of section 3, and amendments
thereto. This paragraph and all relevant provisions of the consumer
protection act pertaining to enforcement of the act or penalties, remedies,
damages or recovery of attorney fees for violations of the act shall be an
alternative to applicable provisions of the residential landlord and tenant
act, K.S.A. 58-2540 et seq., and amendments thereto, for the purposes of
enforcement of the provisions of section 3, and amendments thereto. In a
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proceeding under the consumer protection act for purposes of such
enforcement, the provisions of such act shall take precedence in any
conflict with provisions of the residential landlord and tenant act.
Sec. 6. K.S.A. 2024 Supp. 50-626 is hereby repealed.
Sec. 7. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after its
publication in the statute book.
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