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Get Involved
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The Kansas Leadership Committee to Keep Children
Alcohol Free is working to educate and change the public's perception
of underage drinking. With
information distribution through
movie slide advertising,
public service announcements and working with partners across the
state, Kansans will see that underage drinking is not a "Rite
Of Passage".
To reduce the use of alcohol by youth in Kansas.
You may have heard the term, "social hosting," but were unsure of it's meaning. Social hosting or unlawfully hosting is generally defined as providing and/or serving alcohol to a young person who is under the minimum legal drinking age. It can take place in a party-like atmosphere or by any adult simply providing alcohol to young people and their peers for them to drink. It can even extend to parents and homeowners who are not on the premises and/or did not provide the alcohol.
Kansas passed a social host law in 2004, a.k.a. Paul’s Law, named for Paul Riggs, a Lenexa teen who was killed while driving home from a friend’s party, where he and other teenagers had been drinking. The friend’s parents were home during the party while the teens drank alcohol. After Paul’s death, his mother, Debbie Riggs, attempted to have a social host law passed in the Kansas legislature to protect the youth of the state. The social host law established a new crime of “unlawfully hosting” where persons under the age of *18 consume alcoholic beverages or cereal malt beverages. Unlawfully hosting minors consuming alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverage is now a Class A person misdemeanor, for which there is a minimum fine of $1,000. During the 2007 Legislative session, the law was changed to define a minor as "under the age of 21" instead of *18. A minor in Kansas is defined as under the age of 21. NEW! During the 2009 Legislative session, a bill was passed to add the words "or recklessly" to the phrasing 'Unlawfully hosting minors consuming alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverage is intentionally or recklessly permitting a person's residence or any land, building, structure or room owned, occupied or procured by such person to be used by an invitee of such person or an invitee of such person's child or ward, in a manner that results in the possession or consumption therein of alcoholic liquor or cereal malt beverages by a minor.'
Social Hosting Promotional Piece (All pdf copies-see below) For more information, regarding
social hosting awareness or the "Not In Our House" campaign,
please contact Keri Renner at
(800) 206-7231.
In 2007, as part of the "Not In Our House" campaign, Governor Kathleen Sebelius and Judge Gary Sebelius produced radio public service announcements about social hosting and adults providing alcohol or beer to youth. These PSAs will be distributed and played on radio stations throughout Kansas.
For more information, please contact Keri
Renner, Director
of Communications & Statewide Networker at (800) 206-7231 or via e-mail
at krenner@kansasfamily.com.
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In
2007, the Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free unveiled
a new campaign called "Not In Our House," aimed
at educating parents, the public and key leaders about reducing
access to alcohol by Kansas youth in our homes and our communities. Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free tied their campaign to materials that The International Institute for Alcohol Awareness, Scholastic and The Century Council had published in 2006. This presented an even greater partnership to distribute awareness materials regarding social hosting and underage drinking. 
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