AGO 1989-066.

• Case Date: May 30, 1989
• Court: Kansas

Kansas Attorney General Opinions 1989. AGO 1989-066. May 30, 1989ATTORNEY GENERAL OPINION NO. 89-66The Honorable Ben E. Vidricksen State Senator Twenty-Fourth District 713 N. 11th Street Salina, Kansas 67404-1814 Re: Taxation--Motor Vehicle Fuel Taxes; Motor-Fuel Tax--Tax Imposed on Use, Sale or Delivery of Motor-Vehicle Fuels; Pumps Labeled to Show Alcohol Content Synopsis: The Kansas labeling law found in subsection (b) of K.S.A.1988 Supp. 79-3408 that requires every retail pump for motor vehicle fuel be labeled to show content and percentage of any ethyl alcohol or other alcohol combined or alone in excess of 1% by volume does not violate Sections 1 and 2 of the Kansas Constitution or the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution. Cited herein: K.S.A.1988 Supp. 79-3408; Kan.Const., Arts. 1 and 2; U.S. Const., 14th Amend. * * * Dear Senator Vidricksen: As Senator for the Twenty-Fourth District you inquire about the constitutionality of subsection (b) of K.S.A.1988 Supp. 79-3408, known as the Kansas Labeling Law, that states: "[e]very retail pump for motor vehicle fuels shall be conspicuously labeled to show the content and percentage of any ethyl alcohol or other alcohol combined or alone in excess of 1% by volume." In addition to challenging the provision's constitutionality generally, you inquire: 1. Whether the Kansas Gasoline Labeling Law is arbitrary in that there is not reasonable basis to require the labeling of alcohol as an additive without requiring labeling of other additives; 2. Whether the labeling requirement is necessary and reasonable bearing some substantial relation to the public health, safety or morals, or to the general welfare, the public convenience, or the general prosperity; 3. Whether the labeling law is confusing and misleading, and whether it tends to substantially diminish the business of Kansas alcohol manufacturers, without serving a reasonable governmental interest. You indicate that you seek review of the Kansas labeling law in light of a recent Alabama Supreme Court case where a similar statute was found unconstitutional. Friday v. Ethanol Corporation, 539 So.2d 208 (Ala.1988) involved a declaratory judgment action by the Ethanol Corporation seeking a permanent injunction against a statutory amendment imposing an additional labeling requirement for motor fuel containing ethyl alcohol...