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".
Kansas Family Partnership and the Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free Committee are pleased to announce that First Lady of Kansas, Mary Brownback, has agreed to serve as a spokesperson for the initiative.
The Leadership To Keep Children Alcohol Free Foundation, a unique coalition of current and former Governors’ spouses, Federal agencies, and public and private organizations, is an initiative to prevent the use of alcohol by children ages 9 to 15. It is also the oldest and largest organization of Governors’ spouses focused on a single issue.
A Kansas native, Mary received a bachelor of science degree in business from the University of Kansas and earned her juris doctorate at the KU School of Law. She and Gov. Sam Brownback met during law school and they were married in August 1982.
After their first two children were born, Mary became a full-time mom and began volunteering around Topeka. She is a passionate advocate for adoption and foster care and has worked to bring attention to these and many other children’s issues. Sam and Mary have five children: Abby, Andy, Liz, Mark and Jenna.
We hope to engage Mrs. Brownback's talents in creating public service announcements that will be distributed throughout the state to discuss the risks of underage drinking. Mary joins other Kansas first spouses in supporting this important Kansas initiative which include Linda Graves, Gary Sebelius and Stacy Parkinson.
The Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free Committee is comprised of members of state agencies, community coalitions, businesses, state associations, law enforcement, and community volunteers. Members represent the fields of health care, law enforcement, substance abuse prevention, education, transportation/traffic safety, and media. Kansas Family Partnership, Inc. oversees the Committee and Michelle Voth and Keri Renner serve as co-chairs and may be contacted at (800) 206-7231.
The Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free Committee includes:
Michelle Voth - Committee co-chair - Kansas Family Partnership, Inc. Keri Renner - Committee co-chair - Kansas Family Partnership, Inc. Pete Bodyk - Kansas Dept. of Transportation -
Bureau of Transportation Safety
and Technology Irene Caballero - Safe Streets of Topeka/Shawnee County coalition
Gary Caruthers - Kansas Medical Society
Sarah Fischer - Kansas Strategic Prevention Framework-State Incentive Grant Project
Steve Halbett - Kansas Dept. of Transportation,
Bureau of Transportation Safety
and Technology Jim Hanni - AAA of Kansas
Holly Higgins - Kansas Farm Bureau
Janelle Martin - Douglas County Community Health Improvement Project
Larry Kibbee - Kansas Elks
Lee Kibbee - Kansas Elks
Ed Klumpp - Kansas Association of Chiefs of Police
Debbie Lawson - Kansas PTA Peggy Mast - Kansas House of Representatives
Mike Padilla - Kansas Department of Revenue - Alcoholic Beverage Control Kathy Perron - Kansas SRS - Addiction and Prevention Services
Jim Spence - Kansas Department of Revenue - Alcoholic Beverage Control Jane Stueve - Kansas Department of Health & Environment
Teresa Walters - Emporians for Drug Awareness coalition
Marlou Wegener - Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas Foundation
Lt. Scott Harrington - Kansas Highway Patrol
Norraine Wingfield - Kansas Traffic Safety Resource Office Sally Zellers - Safe Streets of Topeka/Shawnee County coalition
Underage drinking is a significant issue that affects every Kansas community and it is a huge drain on our state budget. The Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free Committee has developed a white paper to educate communities and state leaders about how underage drinking affects Kansans.
The white paper outlines the effects of underage drinking; youth alcohol use rates in Kansas; the economic impact of underage drinking; current Kansas policies to reduce youth access; and suggested policy changes and effective strategies to address this issue.
The Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free Committee encourages you to distribute this document widely throughout your networks via e-mail, newsletters, listserv, social networking pages (facebook, Twitter, etc.,) and Web sites. For questions or additional information about the document, contact Keri Renner at: krenner@kansasfamily.com or Michelle Voth at: mhvoth@kansasfamily.com
or call Kansas Family Partnership at 1-800-206-7231.
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.
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.
Social host liability refers to laws that
hold non-commercial individuals responsible for underage drinking
events on property that they own, lease or otherwise control.
You may not need to actually serve or provide
alcohol to underage guests to violate these laws.
The penalties for breaking this law include possible
jail time, and the potential for criminal or civil lawsuits, as
well as public humiliation for breaking the law.
By violating the law, you are sending every child you know a message that can have risky consequences.
History of the Kansas Social Host Law - (Social Hosting)
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.
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.'
We appreciate your interest in our downloadable items. The following materials were created by Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free. When using or distributing these resources, we encourage you or your organization to give credit to Kansas Leadership or Kansas Family Partnership, unless otherwise noted. If your organization intends to promote the Not In Our House campaign and you want to use any of the related phrasing or graphics, please contact Keri Renner. Thank you!
For more information, regarding
the Kansas initiative for underage drinking and social hosting campaign, "Not In Our House," please contact Keri Renner at
(800) 206-7231.
The Kansas Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free committee, with the help
of the Kansas Highway Patrol and First Lady Mary Brownback, have produced a
public service announcement (PSA) directed toward parents and others regarding underage drinking.
Copies of the PSA have been distributed to television and radio media outlets and will air on stations throughout Kansas.
Leadership to Keep Children Alcohol Free, a unique coalition of Governors' spouses, Federal agencies, and public and private organizations, is an initiative to prevent the use of alcohol by children ages 9 to 15. It is the only national effort that focuses on alcohol use in this age group. The initiative was founded by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism and The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and has been joined by additional Federal Sponsors.
Get Involved
- 
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. 
