As legislators are gearing up for a new season in Jefferson City, so too are the citizens of Northwest Missouri. Over the past few months, the Great Northwest Day at the Capitol Steering Committee gathered and prioritized legislative issues for the region’s annual visit to the state capitol city on January 31 and February 1, 2017.
At this event, approximately 350 people from the 18-county region will visit Jefferson City to make their regional voice heard in a single, cohesive message. Great Northwest Day’s legislative platform for the upcoming event highlights a theme of “Growing the Missouri of the Future,” and includes the following priorities, in no particular order:
• Creation of a Rural Policy Office;
• Investment in Infrastructure, to include: Broadband Deployment, Transportation, Water and Wastewater;
• Investment Education, including both Pre-Kindergarten-12 and Higher Education; and
• Local Control, for programs such as Solid Waste Districts, economic development funding, and school districts.
The criteria for reviewing regional issues included legislative impact, overarching regional impact, non-partisan perspective and timeliness of concern. Regional planning and advocacy groups, such as the Transportation Advisory Committees, Solid Waste Districts, Area Agency on Aging, Missouri Association of Counties and others were asked to identify and submit issues that may impact the entire region. Those issues were then regionally defined and reviewed by the Great Northwest Day steering committee for additional input before being established as the official priorities for the event. The four priorities will be monitored as Great Northwest Day nears, and the message to legislators will be further refined during that time.
Great Northwest Day at the Capitol is an annual legislative event that includes introduction on the Missouri House and Senate floors, time with legislators, an educational luncheon, and an evening event inviting all of Missouri’s legislators and department heads to meet with citizens from the Northwest Missouri region.
For more information on the event or how you can attend, contact Atchison County Coordinator, Monica Bailey (660-744-6562) or visit the website at http://www.greatnorthwestday.com/.