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Council updates city code to reflect 2026 state criminal law changes
Summary
City attorneys presented several ordinance amendments required by 2026 changes in Kansas law, including adding a prohibition on pointing lasers at officers, adjusting petty-theft language, lowering the felony threshold for vehicle theft in specific circumstances, and updating domestic battery penalties; council placed the ordinances on first reading and authorized signatures.
City attorneys told the council they will place a package of ordinance amendments on first reading to align Wichita municipal code with changes made in the 2026 Kansas legislative session.
Jan (City Law Department) summarized the key changes: adding a municipal prohibition on pointing lasers at law enforcement officers; revising petty-theft wording to address possession of stolen property; recognizing state changes that make buying sexual relations a felony (requiring repeal of a conflicting city misdemeanor provision); including gift cards in unlawful-use-of-financial-card language; and conforming domestic-battery penalty language to the new state minimums for second offenses.
Staff explained that some changes are mandatory because state law now sets floors the city cannot undercut, while others are discretionary and were proposed to clarify enforcement. Council members asked detailed questions about which items would still be prosecutable in municipal court, how vehicle-theft threshold changes (now $500 for vehicles in state law) would affect case flows to the district attorney's office, and how trespass and floodway provisions would be enforced.
Captain Aaron Moses (Wichita Police Department) and other staff fielded questions about prosecution pathways and crime statistics; Captain Moses reported 774 auto-theft reports through May 31, 2026 (down 12% year-over-year). After questions and discussion, council approved placing the ordinance amendments on first reading and authorized the necessary signatures.
