Kansas Digital Driver’s License: Bill, Cost, and Rules

Kansas does not currently issue a digital driver’s license. Senate Bill 230, pending in the 2025–2026 legislative session, would authorize the Division of Vehicles to offer one as an optional smartphone credential for a $10 fee on top of your regular license. Until that bill or a successor passes, there is no state-sanctioned mobile ID in Kansas, and the state is not among those whose digital IDs are accepted at TSA checkpoints.¹²

Where the Bill Stands

The first attempt was House Bill 2762 in the 2023–2024 session. It set out a framework for digital credentials with privacy protections and scanning rules, and died in committee in April 2024 without a floor vote.³

Senate Bill 230 picked up the effort in the current session. It carries forward most of the earlier framework and adds specific fee amounts, encryption benchmarks, and rules for any private contractor hired to build the system.¹ Everything described below is what SB 230 proposes, not a service you can sign up for today.

Who Could Get One

Under SB 230, you would need to already hold a valid physical Kansas driver’s license or ID card. The digital credential is designed as an add-on, not a replacement.¹

Because the digital license is tied to the status of your underlying card, a suspension, revocation, or cancellation of your driving privileges would disable the digital version as well.¹ Nothing in the bill requires fingerprints, facial recognition, or any other biometric collection beyond the identity and residency documents you already provided for your physical license.

What It Would Cost

The fee set in the bill is $10 for a digital driver’s license, and $10 for a digital identification card. That is in addition to the fee for the physical card.¹ The bill does not create any subsidy, waiver, or financial assistance program for low-income residents.

How It Would Work on Your Phone

SB 230 defines the credential as something you view through an “electronic credentialing system” on a phone, computer, or other personal device. The system pulls your information from Division of Vehicles records and displays or transmits it.¹

One feature worth knowing about is the limited profile. Instead of showing your full license at once, the system can share only the data a particular transaction requires. A store confirming you are over 21 could get that answer without seeing your address, birthdate, or license number.¹

No Signal, No Problem

The industry standard SB 230 references, ISO/IEC 18013-5, requires mobile licenses to support a device-retrieval mode that works without any internet connection on either side. The credential lives on your phone and verifies through a direct local link to the reader. You can also delete the credential from your device if the phone is compromised.⁴

If Your Phone Is Lost or Stolen

Your physical license is still in your wallet, so you are not stranded without ID. Because the digital credential is tied to authenticated state records and signed cryptographically, a thief cannot simply screenshot it and pass it off as valid. Most phones also let you wipe data remotely through Apple’s Find My or Google’s Find My Device.

Privacy Rules Built Into the Bill

SB 230 and its predecessor give the holder meaningful control over what happens to their data. Anyone who scans your digital license is barred from selling or sharing the information collected without your written consent, and that consent must spell out what is being collected and why. If you decline to be scanned, the verifier has to collect the information manually.⁵

Remote requests for your credential face tighter limits. They require your express consent, must be restricted to the specific data fields requested, and cannot return more information than appears on the face of your physical license.⁵

The system itself is restricted too. It may not retain your IP address, geolocation, or other location data except where needed for authentication. Any private vendor contracted to build the system cannot use, sell, or share data obtained through the contract, and must delete all collected data within 30 days after the contract ends.¹

Security Standards

The bill names specific benchmarks the system must meet: ISO 18013-5 for the mobile license format, FIPS 140-3 for cryptographic modules, and NIST 800-53 Moderate for information security controls, with a requirement that transmitted data cannot be intercepted.¹ The state or its vendor must protect root certificate private keys using hardware security modules rated Level 3 or higher, and document signer keys at Level 2 or higher. These are physical devices built to resist key extraction, not software encryption alone.⁶

Showing It to a Police Officer

Handing a phone to an officer is the scenario most people worry about. The mobile license protocols being adopted nationally are designed so that you do not need to hand over your device at all. Verification happens through a QR code on your screen or a wireless transmission to the officer’s reader.

If you did hand the phone over, the rest of its contents remain protected. In Riley v. California, the U.S. Supreme Court held that warrantless searches of the digital contents of a cell phone during an arrest are unconstitutional.⁷ The limited profile in SB 230 adds a practical layer: if the officer’s reader requests only your driving status, that is all the system sends.

Air Travel and Out-of-State Use

Kansas is not on the TSA’s list of states whose digital IDs are accepted at airport checkpoints. More than 20 states participate at over 250 checkpoints, but Kansas is not among them.²

Federal rules finalized in late 2024 require any state seeking TSA acceptance to apply for a temporary waiver. The state has to show its mobile license is REAL ID-compliant and meets criteria drawn from 19 industry standards, and the underlying physical license has to be REAL ID-compliant too, flagged as such in the digital credential. A waiver, once granted, lasts three years.⁶

Even if SB 230 passes, it would make the digital credential legally valid as ID within Kansas, but that authority stops at the state line.¹ Whether other states or private businesses accept it is up to them.

Penalties for Faking or Misusing a Digital ID

Kansas treats identity fraud as a severity level 8 nonperson felony, not a misdemeanor. Under the state’s sentencing grid, a level 8 nonperson felony carries a presumptive prison sentence that depends on the offender’s criminal history. With no prior felonies, the range starts around 7 to 9 months, and prior convictions push it higher. If monetary loss to victims exceeds $100,000, the charge escalates to a severity level 5 nonperson felony with substantially longer prison terms.⁸

1
Kansas State Legislature. Senate Bill No. 230
2
Transportation Security Administration. Participating States and Eligible Digital IDs
3
Kansas State Legislature. HB 2762 – Bills and Resolutions
4
American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators. Mobile Driver’s License Implementation Guidelines, r1.4
5
Kansas Legislature. House Bill No. 2762
6
Federal Register. Minimum Standards for Driver’s Licenses and Identification Cards Acceptable by Federal Agencies for Official Purposes – Waiver for Mobile Driver’s Licenses
7
Justia. Riley v. California, 573 U.S. 373 (2014)
8
Kansas State Legislature. Kansas Code 21-6107 – Identity Theft, Identity Fraud