Kansas State Nurses Association annual reports 2002: Liaison reports

Kansas Nurse, Sep 2002 by Whitlock, Darlene S

SAFE KIDS Walk This Way: On October 2, the Coalition sponsored the third annual Walk Your Child to School Day in Kansas. Over 100 "Community Action" how-to kits were developed and distributed to local communities and schools upon request. 19,000 reflective shoe lace tags were distributed to participating children ages 5-9.

SAFE KIDS Get Into the Game!: The Kansas SAFE KIDS Coalition encouraged kids to "Make it a SAFE KIDS Summer!" during SAFE KIDS WEEK 2001 - MAY 5-12. As part of this initiative, SAFE KIDS created an informative summer safety checklist that highlights the top injury risks to children during the summer and offers lifesaving information. The total attendance/participation at all of the Coalition events statewide for SAFE KIDS Week 2001 was approximately 24,000.

Local Activities: During 2001, two new communities were approved as local chapters of the Kansas SAFE KIDS Coalition, Anderson County and Montgomery County. Kansas now has four local Coalitions and thirteen local chapters.

Public Policy and Advocacy: A Public Policy Platform and Public Policy Priorities were adopted by the Coalition for 2001. The Coalition was again able to utilize the services of a volunteer Legislative Liaison who fielded daily phone calls from legislators and participated in legislative meetings and hearings on behalf of the Coalition.

Roseanne Rutkowski, Liaison

Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition

The Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition had a very successful year from a public policy perspective and in encouraging/supporting local communities towards reducing tobacco consumption in the state. The 2002 legislative priority was raising the excise tax on cigarettes from $.24 per pack rate. S.B. 450 was the bill that contained the provisions, that after very intense lobbying on behalf of a larger coalition, the Kansas Health Care Access Coalition, was passed and signed by the Governor. It provides that the excise tax on cigarettes would increase from $.24 to $.70 (a $.49 increase) effective July 1, 2002; then an additional $.09 increase effective January 1, 2003 to raise the overall tax to $.79. The total increase will be $.55 and the funds will go to the state general fund, which is where the current $.24 goes. Kansas was one of eleven states that increased the excise tax on cigarettes in 2002, with tax increases ranging from $.18 (Utah) to $.61 (Connecticut). Kansas moved from 341 to 161 in cigarette excise tax in the country. This was a goal of the Tobacco Free Kansas Coalition for several years, and all the partners in this endeavor are pleased with this successful campaign. The Coalition adopted a framework for policy initiatives on clean indoor air, and that document is entitled "The Fundamentals of Clean Indoor Air", endorsed by Americans for Nonsmokers Rights. The document includes: Best Practices-Policy Elements & Important Campaign Elements and was released in April of 2002. It will serve communities and local coalitions well as they pursue strengthening local ordinances to improve clean indoor air in all settings. The City of Salina is preparing for a "ballot initiative" aimed at rescinding the recent City Council approved smoking ban in restaurants that was to go into effect. The tobacco industry is behind this vote, which will be on the November 51 ballot. Coalition partners are being encouraged to support the Salina Coalition as they attempt to preserve their no-smoking ban (clean indoor air ordinance) and counter the industries tactics in the community. Salina, is the one Kansas community that was awarded $500,000 to implement best practices and the CDC model for reducing tobacco consumption. The implications of their work and successes has great ramifications for future tobacco prevention funding from either state general fund dollars, or the Children's Cabinet funding (Tobacco Settlement dollars). Three youth rallys were held in different communities, with over 850 high school students participating statewide, and these will continue in 2003. Terri Roberts J.D., R.N., Executive Director of KSNA served as the TFKC President this past year and will now serve on the Steering Committee as the Past-President.