Florida Update

[CJ Buck]

I had mentioned before that part of the florida strategy is to keep a pretty low profile while we get legislation approved clarifying that switchblades are not ballistic knives.

At the Blade Show in June, 01 in Atlanta, a meeting was called by concerned Floridians to discuss this issue. AKTI was going to take a passive approach but we were convinced after the meeting that action was needed.

Dave Kowalski, our Communications Director has put a "white paper" together explaining the situation and what we want to happen based on the last florida task force committee meeting. This will be used by the lobbyist to bring legislators up to speed.

AKTI is not the leadership for this challenge. AKTI is not the funding for this challenge. AKTI is a rallying banner and a fund raising collection point for this effort. On my desk is the one year service contract for the lobbyist but this effort will falter if we do not get better results in our fundraising. This is a $10,000 committment and we have raised $5000 so far (most still in pledges). I cannot sign it until the lobbyist and I come to terms with alternatives in case funds run short.

Timing is 1st/2nd quarter next year when all the legislative work will take place but we need to have the funds on hand to cover our contractual obligations with the lobbyist. Some regents are kicking in donations separate from their AKTI dues.

Any donations sent to AKTI and earmarked Florida will go straight to this fund. If you have any questions on this fund contact Jan Billeb at akti@akti.org

 

[CJ Buck]

We have still only collected $2500-3000 of the $5000 pledged...and we still need another $5k pledged to get to $10k.

We need to collect the balance if we are to pay the remainder of the lobbying bills. The lobbying team in florida is meeting this week to make some decisions upon which bill to add our definition clarification. Our goal here is to cleary differentiate between automatic knives and ballistic knives.

It still looks very good we can get this done within the boundaries of this 60 day congressional session. (we are about half way through)

AKTI has fulfilled its purpose by giving the industry as a whole an entity that could engage the lobbyist, now it is up to us all to bring in the funding necessary to finish this.

If you would like more information about this effort check out website.

www.akti.org