Bill would penalize harmful rights violations using claimed legal authority

People who knowingly violate protected rights using claimed legal authority would face criminal penalties if they cause a listed harm. The offense would cover any person using claimed authority under a law or local rule, including people who are not public officials. The rights must be protected by the United States or Kansas constitutions or laws. Bodily harm or emotional distress would carry misdemeanor penalties. Serious injury, injury involving a deadly weapon, or rude, insulting, angry, or dangerously harmful physical contact would carry felony penalties. Financial loss below $1,000 would carry misdemeanor penalties. Loss of at least $1,000 would carry felony penalties, with a higher penalty level at $25,000 or more. If enacted, the measure would take effect after publication in Kansas’s statute book.

Injured people could sue those responsible in state court. People injured by the knowing rights violations and harms described above could bring these lawsuits. Winning victims would recover up to three times their actual losses or $10,000, whichever is greater, plus lawsuit costs and reasonable lawyer fees. At a Kansas victim’s request, the attorney general could pursue the case. All damages recovered would go to the victim. The lawsuits would also have to follow a separate Kansas law whose requirements are not included here. Victims would have to file within three years after discovering the violation or the conclusion of a related criminal case, whichever happens later.

Courts would order convicted people to repay victims’ expenses caused by the offense. The requirement would apply to people convicted of knowingly violating protected rights using claimed legal authority and causing a listed harm. Repayment would cover expenses already incurred or reasonably certain to arise, including reasonable lawyer fees and costs.