Topeka ? Cities can exempt themselves from the state’s long-standing ban on Sunday liquor sales, the Kansas Supreme Court ruled Friday.

The court held that because the provisions of the state’s Liquor Control Act — which contains the ban on Sunday sales — do not apply uniformly to all municipalities, cities have home-rule authority to exempt themselves from the statute.

In its unanimous ruling, the Supreme Court rejected the state’s appeal of a Wyandotte County district judge’s March 2003 decision upholding the legality of a Sunday sales charter ordinance approved by voters in the Unified Government of Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan. Separately, the Wyandotte County community of Edwardsville also adopted a Sunday sales charter ordinance in 2002.

Since that ruling, 14 cities — mostly in eastern Kansas, including Lawrence — have passed ordinances allowing Sunday sales.

Atty. Gen. Phill Kline had argued that if the Wyandotte County ruling stood and legislators did not act, local governments could start exempting themselves from other parts of the Liquor Control Act, such as the section setting the legal drinking age at 21.

The Supreme Court disagreed.

“The state’s argument is not sound, but even if it were sound, the floodgates may be closed simply by the Legislature’s replacing special legislation with enactments that are uniformly applicable to all cities,” Justice Donald Allegrucci wrote in the court’s opinion.

Kline said Friday’s ruling was “another indication that the Legislature has to act.”

“The act needs to be uniform,” he said in an interview. “It becomes extraordinarily difficult to enforce in any fashion if the Legislature does not make it uniform.”

As for allowing the core question of allowing or banning Sunday sales, Kline said, “I don’t have a dog in that fight.”

In the Legislature, a dispute over Sunday sales and liquor taxes has prevented passage of a bill making the Liquor Control Act uniform. Last year, the House approved a uniformity bill that also explicitly allowed Sunday sales, but the Senate narrowly rejected the measure. This year, senators rejected a uniformity bill after removing a Sunday sales provision.

Making the debate more complicated is some senators’ desire to increase alcohol taxes to raise money for public schools. Key House members from both parties said Friday they were waiting for the Senate to pass a liquor bill.

“The Supreme Court ruling makes it very clear that the Legislature does need to fix the liquor laws,” Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said at a news conference. “If the Legislature walks away this session again not fixing this, we really could have a very chaotic situation.”

Mike Taylor, spokesman for the Unified Government, said the court’s ruling Friday “may take care of the problem.”

“We’ll see politically what the Legislature will do about that,” Taylor said. “The Legislature may just feel they can move on.”

Senate Majority Leader Lana Oleen, R-Manhattan, said she expects legislators to approve a liquor bill but, “In what form, relative to Sunday Sales, I’m not certain.”

Allowing Sunday sales would mean “more revenue for local governments and the state,” Taylor added.

In its ruling Friday, the Supreme Court cited three instances in which the Liquor Control Act is not uniform.

Two provisions set different requirements for different cities, based on their populations, for elections to legalize sales of packaged liquor. A third provision differentiates among different-sized cities on whether alcohol consumption will be allowed on property owned by an airport authority.

The Supreme Court then noted that cities’ power to exempt themselves from nonuniform state laws comes from a provision of the Kansas Constitution approved by voters as an amendment in 1960.

“Cities’ authority is granted directly from the people,” Allegrucci wrote.

Wyandotte County and Kansas City, Kan., have a unified government, and the Supreme Court described the uniform government as a city in its opinion.