Kansas Nursing Home Camera Laws: Authorized Electronic Monitoring Under K.S.A. 39-981

Kansas gives a resident of an adult care home, a category that explicitly includes assisted living facilities, or their guardian or legal representative, the right to request authorized electronic monitoring in the resident's own room, under K.S.A. 39-981.

Information last verified on 2026-08-14. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

This article covers Kansas's electronic monitoring statute, K.S.A. 39-981, within Chapter 39, Article 9's Adult Care Homes provisions. It does not cover Kansas's general one-party consent recording law in full, which has its own dedicated page linked below.

What Kansas's Electronic Monitoring Law Grants

A resident, or the resident's guardian or legal representative, may request authorized electronic monitoring by notifying the facility on a form prescribed by the secretary for aging and disability services. The right applies to an "adult care home," a term defined by cross-reference to K.S.A. 39-923.

The Liability Release Built Into the Request Form

That form carries one term that cuts against the resident, and it is written into the statute rather than added by the facility. K.S.A. 39-981(d)(1) requires the resident, or the resident's guardian or legal representative, to "release the adult care home from any civil liability for a violation of the resident's privacy rights in connection with the use of the electronic monitoring device." By its terms the release reaches privacy-rights claims connected to the device, not other claims, but it is a condition of exercising the monitoring right and there is no version of the form without it.

The same subsection requires three other things of the form: that the resident be informed of the proper procedures for reporting complaints as outlined by the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services, that a resident using a video surveillance camera choose up front whether the camera will always be unobstructed or will be obstructed in specified circumstances to protect the resident's dignity, and that a resident in a multi-resident room obtain roommate consent on a separate prescribed form. The adult care home must provide a copy of the completed form to the resident, to any roommate, and to the office of the state long-term care ombudsman.

Does Kansas's Law Cover Assisted Living?

Yes, explicitly. K.S.A. 39-923 defines "adult care home" to mean "any nursing facility, nursing facility for mental health, intermediate care facility for people with intellectual disability, assisted living facility, residential healthcare facility, home plus, boarding care home and adult day care facility" required to be licensed by the secretary for aging and disability services. Assisted living facility is one of eight named categories, so an assisted living resident in Kansas has the same electronic-monitoring right as a nursing facility resident.

Roommate Consent and Withdrawal

In a multi-resident room, the requesting resident must obtain written consent from the other room residents on a prescribed form. Consent may be withdrawn by the resident, the resident's guardian or legal representative, or any roommate, at any time. If consent is withdrawn and the device is not disabled by the party who withdrew it, the facility may turn the device off itself. If a new roommate moves in, the resident must obtain that new roommate's consent before monitoring can resume.

What Happens If a Roommate Says No

A refusal is not the end of the request. K.S.A. 39-981(e) requires an adult care home to make reasonable physical accommodations for authorized electronic monitoring, and subsection (e)(3) lists among them "making reasonable accommodations if a resident in a multi-resident room wishes to conduct electronic monitoring pursuant to this section and the resident or residents with whom the resident shares the room do not consent to the monitoring, including offering to move the resident who wishes to conduct electronic monitoring to another shared room that is available or becomes available."

Subsection (e)(4) imposes the same duty in the other direction, requiring reasonable accommodations when a new resident who does not consent begins living in the room. So the practical next step after a roommate declines is to ask the facility in writing for the accommodation the statute requires, including a room change, rather than treating the refusal as a permanent bar. The same subsection also obliges the facility to provide a reasonably secure place to mount the device and access to power sources for it.

The Video/Audio and Dignity Election

Kansas builds an unusually granular set of resident-controlled options into the statute. A resident can elect to prohibit video recording, prohibit audio recording, or restrict both separately, and can block the visual component of the recording during specific dignity-sensitive activities. That is more control over the audio and video components independently than most state monitoring statutes give a resident.

Notice and Signage

The facility must post a conspicuous notice at the entrance to the adult care home and at each resident's own room stating that some residents' rooms may be electronically monitored, a dual-location signage requirement that goes beyond a single entrance sign.

Who Pays for the Device

"A resident, or such resident's guardian or legal representative, shall pay all costs associated with installing and maintaining an electronic monitoring device."

Retaliation and Refusal-to-Admit Ban

Kansas law is direct on this point: "An adult care home shall not discharge or refuse to admit a resident or person or otherwise retaliate against a resident or person based on conducting or consenting to authorized electronic monitoring."

Tampering Penalties

Interfering with a device carries a tiered penalty structure. Knowingly hindering, obstructing, or destroying a device is a class B nonperson misdemeanor. If the conduct is intended to conceal a misdemeanor, it becomes a class A nonperson misdemeanor. If intended to conceal a felony, it becomes a severity level 8 nonperson felony.

Using Recordings as Evidence

Courts may not admit a recording unless video shows the time and date and the recording is unedited and unenhanced, no artificial enhancement of the footage. Footage that appears to show abuse or neglect can support a report to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services or the state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman program, and it can support a civil claim.

Camera vs. Microphone: Kansas's Consent Law

Kansas is a one-party consent state for recording generally: see Kansas Recording Laws for the full framework. Because a resident present in their own room and consenting to their own device satisfies the general one-party rule for their own conversations, the added value of K.S.A. 39-981's own separate audio-restriction election is mainly about the resident's own preference and dignity, not a gap the general consent law leaves open. A device capturing a conversation the resident is not part of, such as staff talking to each other, is still governed by the general one-party rule independently.

Installing a Camera in a Kansas Adult Care Home

1. Confirm the facility is an adult care home, which covers assisted living as well as nursing facilities.
2. Submit the secretary-prescribed request form, and read it before signing. K.S.A. 39-981(d)(1) makes releasing the adult care home from civil liability for privacy-rights violations connected to the device a required term of that form.
3. Obtain roommate consent in writing, including any video-only or audio-only restriction the resident wants. If a roommate declines, ask the facility for the accommodation K.S.A. 39-981(e)(3) requires, including an offer to move the monitoring resident to another shared room that is available or becomes available.
4. Confirm signage is posted at both the facility entrance and the resident's own room.
5. Budget for the ongoing cost, which falls entirely on the resident or family.

If You Suspect Abuse or Neglect

Kansas residents and families can report suspected abuse or neglect to the Kansas Department for Aging and Disability Services or to the state's Long-Term Care Ombudsman program. That federally backed ombudsman program, operating in every state under the Older Americans Act, investigates complaints about action or inaction that may adversely affect a resident's health, safety, welfare, or rights, and covers assisted living residents as well as nursing facility residents.

Related Resources

• Nursing Home Camera Laws by State covers the national picture across all 18 statute states.
• Kansas Recording Laws covers Kansas's general one-party consent rule for audio recording.
• Nursing Home Abuse & Neglect covers how an abuse or neglect claim works once evidence, including camera footage, is in hand.

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Last updated: 2026-08-14.