KANSAS CITY, KAN. ? Two Wyandotte County cities are arguing they have the right to exempt themselves from provisions of the state’s ban on Sunday liquor sales.

Appearing before Wyandotte County District Judge John J. Bukaty Jr., the two cities — Kansas City, Kan., and Edwardsville — argued Friday that the state gave local governments broad authority to regulate such things as Sunday alcohol sales.

But a deputy Kansas attorney general said issues relating to liquor control fell under the state’s authority.

The hearing came more than three months after Kansas City, Kan., voters approved an ordinance that lifted the ban and after a similar measure went into effect in Edwardsville.

The state initially tried to enforce its liquor ban but eventually decided to settle the matter in court by asking a judge to rule on the ordinances’ legality. The state also agreed not to enforce the law in the two cities until May 5 or until the ruling.

The two cities contend the state’s Liquor Control Act does not apply uniformly to all cities. The state’s home-rule amendment to the state’s constitution, they say, permits exemptions from nonuniform acts.

The state, represented by Deputy Atty. Gen. Julene L. Miller, conceded that certain provisions of the act did not apply to all cities. But this is not the type of legislation from which the home-rule amendment is intended to allow cities to exempt themselves, she said.

Moreover, she said, a Kansas constitutional amendment gives the state regulatory control over liquor.