diff --git a/pkg/api/types.go b/pkg/api/types.go
index 09eff349810..442cfeac33c 100644
--- a/pkg/api/types.go
+++ b/pkg/api/types.go
@@ -2407,7 +2407,7 @@ type ConfigMapList struct {
 	unversioned.ListMeta `json:"metadata,omitempty"`
 
 	// Items is the list of ConfigMaps.
-	Items []ConfigMap `json:"items,omitempty"`
+	Items []ConfigMap `json:"items"`
 }
 
 // These constants are for remote command execution and port forwarding and are
diff --git a/pkg/api/v1/types.go b/pkg/api/v1/types.go
index 55805ebf5e0..0f0a3cb5e2c 100644
--- a/pkg/api/v1/types.go
+++ b/pkg/api/v1/types.go
@@ -2856,7 +2856,7 @@ type ConfigMapList struct {
 	unversioned.ListMeta `json:"metadata,omitempty" protobuf:"bytes,1,opt,name=metadata"`
 
 	// Items is the list of ConfigMaps.
-	Items []ConfigMap `json:"items,omitempty" protobuf:"bytes,2,rep,name=items"`
+	Items []ConfigMap `json:"items" protobuf:"bytes,2,rep,name=items"`
 }
 
 // Type and constants for component health validation.