Kansas City, KS — A free speech violation comes with a hefty price tag for Kansas officials who unlawfully targeted a community advocacy group with campaign finance regulations.

The U.S. District Court for the District of Kansas has entered an order under which state officials have agreed to pay $98,500 in attorney fees and costs to the Institute for Free Speech and local counsel Kriegshauser Ney Law Group, bringing a successful conclusion to litigation that protected free speech rights for grassroots issue advocacy organizations in Kansas.

Moreover, a recent bill signed into law by Governor Laura Kelly adopted key Institute for Free Speech recommendations for improving campaign finance laws. House Bill 2206 was passed partially in response to the Institute’s successful Fresh Vision OP lawsuit and brought the state’s definition of a political committee into compliance with the First Amendment.

The fee award in the case follows a January 2025 victory in which Judge Daniel D. Crabtree issued a permanent injunction preventing state officials from regulating Fresh Vision OP, a local community advocacy group, as a political action committee (PAC). The court ruled that such regulation was improper, as electoral advocacy was not the group’s primary purpose.

This distinction between “the” major purpose and “a” major purpose ensures that grassroots organizations that only occasionally engage in campaign speech cannot be subjected to the full weight of campaign finance regulations. The ruling established that Kansas cannot subject issue advocacy groups to the robust and complex regulations reserved for political committees merely because the grassroots groups occasionally engage in such speech.

“When government officials unlawfully restrict First Amendment rights, they should expect to lose in court and to be held financially accountable for their actions,” said Institute for Free Speech Senior Attorney Charles “Chip” Miller.  “This outcome serves as a reminder that the First Amendment mandates that groups like Fresh Vision be permitted to speak freely, without being subject to onerous government regulations.”

Fresh Vision OP, which advocates for responsible development and quality of life issues in Overland Park, had suspended its operations after state officials threatened its officers with hefty fines and even imprisonment for endorsing a mayoral candidate in 2021. The court’s January ruling allowed the group to resume its advocacy activities without fear of being regulated as a political committee.

The fee award, which was agreed to by the parties and approved by the court, will be shared between the Institute for Free Speech and Kriegshauser Ney Law Group.

To read the fee award order, click here. For more information about the case, Fresh Vision OP, Inc. v. Skoglund, please visit the case page on the Institute for Free Speech website.

About the Institute for Free Speech

The Institute for Free Speech promotes and defends the political speech rights to freely speak, assemble, publish, and petition the government guaranteed by the First Amendment.