Kansas Attorney General Opinion 2012-012

April 27, 2012
ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 2012- 12
Robert Moser, M.D.
Secretary
Kansas Department of Health and Environment
1000 SW Jackson St., Suite 540
Topeka, KS 66612
Re: 	State 	Departments; 	Public 	Officers 	and 	Employees–Department 	of
Revenue–Unlawful to Divulge Tax Information
Taxation–Kansas Retailer’s Sales Tax–Confidentiality Requirements
Synopsis: 	Solid waste tonnage fees are not subject to the confidentiality provisions
of K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 75-5133. Cited herein: K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3402;
K.S.A. 65-3405; 65-3415a; K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b; 75-5133; K.S.A.
79-3601; K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 79-3614.
* 	* 	*
Dear Dr. Moser:
As Secretary for the Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE), you ask
for our opinion on whether solid waste tonnage fees collected by KDHE are subject to
the confidentiality provisions of K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 75-5133.
In your letter, you state that KDHE is required to collect a $1.00 solid waste tonnage fee
for each ton of solid waste disposed of at any solid waste disposal area in the state, and
for each ton of solid waste transferred out of state by a transfer station.1 The tonnage
1 K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b(e). K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3402(bb) generally defines “transfer station” as
any facility where solid wastes are transferred from one vehicle to another or where solid wastes are
stored and consolidated before being transported elsewhere.

Dr. Robert Moser
Page 2
fee is paid by the operator of a solid waste disposal area or solid waste transfer station. 2
The Secretary of KDHE is required to remit all moneys collected from solid waste
tonnage fees to the State Treasurer, and upon receipt of such remittance, the State
Treasurer deposits the entire amount into the solid waste management fund created by
K.S.A. 65-3415a. 3 Moneys in the solid waste management fund may only be expended
for 	purposes 	directly 	related 	to 	solid 	waste 	management, 	such 	as 	monitoring,
investigation and cleanup of solid waste disposal sites.4
You further state that until recently, KDHE maintained solid waste tonnage information
on a publicly-available database, including the name and the total weight of solid waste
disposed of by each person or entity paying tonnage fees pursuant to K.S.A. 2011
Supp. 65-3415b. Local governmental and planning units use such tonnage information
to develop solid waste management plans as required by K.S.A. 65-3405. KDHE has
removed information about solid waste tonnage fees from its publicly-available website
due to a concern that publication of such information violates K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 75-
5133.
Your question requires an analysis of the Kansas Retailer’s Sales Tax Act (“the Act”). 5
K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b(e) applies certain provisions of the Act to solid waste
tonnage fees. That statute states in relevant part:
Except as otherwise provided by subsections (a) and (b),6 all laws and
rules 	and 	regulations 	of 	the 	secretary 	of 	revenue 	relating 	to 	the
administration, enforcement and collection of the retailer’s sales tax shall
apply to such fee insofar as they can be made applicable. 7
The Act requires certain retailer’s sales tax information to remain confidential. K.S.A.
2011 Supp. 79-3614 states:
Any information obtained by the department of revenue in connection with
administration of the Kansas retailer's sales tax act is subject to the
confidentiality provisions as set forth in K.S.A. 75-5133, and amendments
thereto.
K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 75-5133 states in relevant part:
(a) Except as otherwise more specifically provided by law, all information
received by the secretary of revenue, the director of taxation or the
director 	of 	alcoholic 	beverage 	control 	from 	returns, 	reports, 	license
applications or registration documents made or filed under the provisions
2 K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b(d).
3 K.S.A. 65-3415a(b); K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b(f).
4 K.S.A. 65-3415a(c).
5 K.S.A. 79-3601 et seq.
6 K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b(a) and (b) exempt certain types of waste from the tonnage fee, including
waste tires, clean rubble and vegetation. These exemptions are irrelevant to our analysis.
7 Emphasis added.

Dr. Robert Moser
Page 3
of any law imposing any sales, use or other excise tax administered by
the secretary of revenue, the director 	of taxation, or the director of
alcoholic beverage control, or from any investigation conducted under
such provisions, shall be confidential, and it shall be unlawful for any
officer or employee of the department of revenue to divulge any such
information except in accordance with other provisions of law respecting
the enforcement and collection of such tax. . . .
. . .
(d) 	Any 	violation 	of 	this 	section 	shall 	be 	a 	class 	A, 	nonperson
misdemeanor, and if the offender is an officer or employee of this state,
such officer or employee shall be dismissed from office.
Thus, your question first requires a determination as to whether K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 79-
3614 is among the provisions of the Act related to the “administration, enforcement and
collection of the retailer’s sales tax” that theoretically could be “made applicable” to solid
waste tonnage fees pursuant to K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b(e). Because K.S.A. 2011
Supp. 79-3614 restricts the disclosure of information obtained in connection with the
administration of the Act, we opine that this statute governs the administration of the Act
and therefore is within the range of statutes contemplated by K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-
3415b(e).
The second part of our analysis is whether the confidentiality provisions of K.S.A. 2011
Supp. 75-5133 can be made applicable to solid waste tonnage fees. When a statute is
plain and unambiguous, courts will not speculate as to the legislative intent behind it
and will not read into the statute something not readily found in it. 8 Courts cannot delete
vital provisions or supply vital omissions in a statute. 9
K.S.A. 	2011 	Supp. 	79-3614 	states 	that 	any 	information 	obtained 	by 	the 	Kansas
Department of Revenue (KDOR) in connection with administration of the Act is subject
to the confidentiality provisions of K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 75-5133. This is the only statute in
the Act that could extend the confidentiality provisions of K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 75-5133 to
solid waste tonnage fees, and it follows that if K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 79-3614 cannot be
made applicable to solid waste tonnage fees, then the issue of the applicability of K.S.A.
2011 Supp. 75-5133 to such fees is moot.
KDOR plays no role in the administration of solid waste tonnage fees. Pursuant to
K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b, solid waste tonnage fees are administered, enforced and
collected by KDHE and remitted to the State Treasurer for deposit into the solid waste
management fund. Application of K.S.A. 2011 79-3614 is unambiguously limited to
8 See, e.g., State v. Trautloff, 289 Kan. 793, 796 (2009).
9 State v. Comprehensive Health of Planned Parenthood of Kansas and Mid-Missouri, Inc., 291 Kan. 322,
357 (2010).

Dr. Robert Moser
Page 4
information received by KDOR, and KDOR receives no information in connection with
the administration of solid waste tonnage fees. Therefore, the statute cannot be made
applicable to KDHE without reading into the statute something not readily found in it.
Because the language of K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 79-3614 plainly and unambiguously
applies only to KDOR, we opine that the statute cannot be made applicable to KDHE
and its administration of solid waste tonnage fees.
In conclusion, K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 65-3415b(e) applies Kansas Retailer’s Sales Tax Act
statutes and regulations to the administration, enforcement and collection of solid waste
tonnage fees insofar as they can be made applicable. Because K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 79-
3614 cannot be made applicable to KDHE, it follows that K.S.A. 2011 Supp. 75-5133
also cannot be made applicable to solid waste tonnage fees. Therefore, we opine that
solid waste tonnage fees are not subject to the confidentiality provisions of K.S.A. 2011
Supp. 75-5133.
Sincerely,
Derek Schmidt
Attorney General
Sarah Fertig
Assistant Attorney General
DS:AA:SF:ke