12-824.   Franchise to interurban railway or electric company; certainprovisions declared void; notice;petition; election; certificate of convenience and necessity.(a) All incorporated cities in the state of Kansas into or through which anyinterurban railroad may have been built, or into or throughwhich any interurban railroad may propose to build a line of interurbanrailroad, or into or through which any corporation operating a system forthe transmission of electric current between two or more incorporatedcities in the state shall have been built, or into or through whichany such corporation may propose to build its transmission lines, arehereby authorized and empowered upon such terms and conditions, as any suchcity may by ordinance prescribe, to grant franchises to such interurbanrailroad companies and transmission corporations for any public utilitypurposes for which they are or may be incorporated.Any such franchise shall be granted for a periodnot greater than the time for which the charter under which such company orcorporation is then operating continues to run but in no case toexceed 35 years. Such franchise shall not be granteduntil notice of the proposition to grant the same has been given for 20days by publication in some newspaper in general circulation in such city.If within such twenty-dayperiod, 10% of the qualified electors petitionsuch city authorities to submit the same to a vote of the electors of thecity, such city authorities shall submit the franchise proposition to avote of the people before such franchise is granted. No suchelection shall be helduntil a certificate is procured from the corporation commission that publicnecessity and convenience requires the construction of such improvements orthe furnishing of such public services. Nothing in thisact shall be construed as applying to telephone and telegraph companies.

      (b)   On and after the effective date of this act, any provision forcompensation or consideration, included in afranchise granted pursuant to this section which is established on thebasis of compensation or consideration paid by an interurban railroadcompany or transmission corporation under another franchise, is herebydeclared to be contrary to the public policy of this state and shall bevoid and unenforceable. Any suchprovision, included in a franchise granted pursuant to this section and inforce on the effective date of this act which requires payments to the cityby an interurban railroad company or transmission corporation to increaseby virtue of the compensation or consideration required to be paid under afranchise granted by another city to the company's or corporation'spredecessor in interest, is hereby declared to be contrary to the publicpolicy of this state and shall be void and unenforceable.

      History:   L. 1915, ch. 282, § 1; L. 1921, ch. 94, § 1;R.S. 1923, § 12-824; L. 1985, ch. 71, § 1; July 1.