Kansas lawmakers botched the drafting of a new anti-trans law, agency attorney says

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas legislators botched the drafting of a new law aimed at preventing transgender people from changing how their sex is listed on their driver's licenses, a state agency's lawyer argued in a court filing made public Tuesday.

An anti-transgender rights law that took effect July 1 conflicts with another law governing what appears on driver's licenses, Kansas Department of Revenue attorney Ted Smith said. The department's motor vehicles division issues driver's licenses, and Smith said the division still must follow the older law because it applies specifically to driver's licenses. The new law does not mention them.

Democratic Gov. Laura Kelly announced last month that Kansas would continue to change transgender people's driver's licenses to reflect their gender identities, despite the new law. Republican state Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a lawsuit in state court on Friday against the department's head and the motor vehicles division's director in a bid to make Kansas one of the few states that don't allow such changes.

District Judge Teresa Watson issued an order Monday directing the state to stop allowing such changes, acting at Kobach's request and without a hearing. The order expires July 24, though the judge could extend it. Smith's filing, dated Monday, asks Watson to rescind her order, and she set a Zoom hearing for Wednesday.

“There is a remedy available to the Legislature," Smith wrote in his filing, saying lawmakers can consider changing the driver's license law next year. They've adjourned for this year.

The Department of Revenue says more than 500 people have changed the sex listing on their driver's licenses since July 2019, including 172 last month alone.

The new Kansas law defines male and female based on the sex assigned a...