Issue Position: Protecting the Vulnerable

Issue Position

Representative Adkins has a heart to help all people but also to protect the most vulnerable across our state. To ensure that children are protected and all citizens can live in safety and security is a priority for him.

In 2015, he carried HM9 which created a task force to study the transition of care from childhood to adulthood for special needs people. He championed this bill because numerous research studies have shown that policies, systems and services tend to lack coordination and are fragmented, and children and youths with disabilities and their families lack the information they need to successfully navigate the transition from pediatric to adult health care.

He also carried the School district background check bill that would have required all employees of a school district to pass a background check before they started to work and have contact with children. The bill would effectively close a loophole that would allow school employees who were licensed before May 20, 1998 to obtain their license without the required background check. Unfortunately, this bill did not pass in 2016.

Protecting the Vulnerable Bills Carried:

HM9 Children with special needs -- Passed

HB127 School District Background Checks -- Died on the Senate floor

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