Nance: Session Begins, Social Services Implements Proposed Bill

“Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each New Year find you a better man”. –Benjamin Franklin

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and I wish you a Happy New Year. The weather and the season have given us the opportunity to share with friends and family. Gifts are exchanged, but the best part of the season for me is spending more time with family.

Session

Missouri’s 2012 legislative session begins on January 4^th. We will be in session through the second week of May. We face many of the same challenges for the coming year.

More people for Senate District 12

Redistricting lines will not take effect until the election of 2012. I will be your 36^th District Representative for twelve more months. The judges split the 36^th into the 8^th, 38^th, and 39^th districts.

State Senate: New Senate Districts
State House: New House Districts

Our Appellate Court Judges in charge of redistricting have added the Smithville area of Clay County to the 12^th Senatorial District. The district now includes over 183,000 people and all of Ray, Caldwell, Clinton, Andrew, Holt, Atchison, DeKalb, Nodaway, Gentry, Harrison, Worth, and Davies Counties. The Clay County portion goes up Raines Road to the 33-69 highway intersection and much of the population North of Cookingham Drive. Excelsior Springs and Kearney will be in District 12.

Social Services adopts ideas

I received a call that even though my SCHIP bill didn’t pass, DSS has implemented the bill. HB793 required the Department of Social Services to establish an administrative renewal process for a child eligible for MO HealthNet or State Children's Health Insurance Program benefits.

Local Schools Cash In on Buckling Up

Local schools took the challenge to buckle up and made it click with students. One hundred and fifty-five (155) schools, including 23 in Kansas City participated in this year's Battle of the Belt Challenge, a competition to raise seat belt use among teens.

Participating schools launched two surprise seat belt checks at each school to measure student seat belt use before and after an educational campaign. In addition, schools had the opportunity to submit a 30-second video spot to encourage their peers to buckle up.

Midway High School in Cass County won the Kansas City award for the Highest Overall Seat Belt Use achieving 100% seat belt use. Valley View High School in Jackson County won the Kansas City award for the Most Improved Seat Belt Use increasing their seat belt use from 53% to 100%. Both schools will receive $500 donated by American Family Insurance to be used for future seat belt educational programs at the schools.

Ten schools in the Kansas City area will receive statewide recognition for seat belt use that reached gold (99-100%), silver (95-98%) or bronze (91-94%) levels of seat belt use and will receive banners to display at the schools donated by the Missouri College of Emergency Physicians. Those schools include:

Midway High School, Cleveland/Freeman/West Line	Gold
Valley View High School, Blue Springs	Gold
Raymore-Peculiar Senior High, Raymore/Peculiar	Silver
Sherwood High School, Creighton/Garden City Silver
Pleasant Hill High School, Pleasant Hill	Silver
Lawson High School, Lawson	Silver
Park Hill South High School, Riverside	Silver
Belton High School, Belton	Bronze
North Platte High School, Dearborn	Bronze
Sweet Springs High School, Sweet Springs	Bronze