LIVE Like KALI

08/14/2019

05/15/2019

Hello,

KENS News reporter Roxie Bustamante's Kali's Law story.

The law requires boaters to use their emergency cut-off switch.

03/21/2019

Hello,
Jaie Avila with KMOL News will air an update on Kali's Law tomorrow at 10:00. I've attached his last story in case you haven't seen it. Jaie included a link to the Coast Guard's investigation of the boat that took Kali's life. If you have a bay boat or ever go out on a bay boat you need to watch the video.

The Coast Guard is sounding a warning about a very popular kind of boat. Chances are you, or a family member, has been on board one. As News 4 Trouble Shooter Jaie Avila reports, a number of people were killed or seriously injured by something the boat h

03/19/2019

Greetings!
Great but sorrowful day at the Capitol testifying before Senate Committee on Water and Rural Affairs. Thank you Senator Campbell for sponsoring SB 210, Kali's Law.

Gabby Garza, Kirby, TPWD Kevin Davis and I testified for Kali's Law today. Committee Senators were very receptive and vowed to make Kali's Law reality this session. Senator Lois Kolkhorst shared that during the testimony, she texted her 16 and 20 year old kids instructing them to never be in a boat where the driver is not using a kill switch.

According to the Coast Guard, 26 Texans died needlessly in 2018 because they didn't use their kill switches. Because of petty politics last session, 26 people lost their lives last year, and many more will die until Kali's Law will become effective in September.

Keep spreading the word about Kali's Law. Texas boating fatalities dropped steeply in 2018. Our Angel Kali has saved countless lives already.

03/01/2019

Hello,
I just received this amazing LLK story from Lynlie Wallace who works with Representative Larson. It's good to hear that our Kali Girl is still impacting the lives of of children and adults.

Next Tuesday Kirby and I will testify for Kali's Law before the State House Culture, Recreation and Tourism Committee. Wish us luck!

Live Like Kali!

Mr. Gorzell,

A gentleman from McKinney, Texas, Richard Nichter, introduced us to a group of students who undertook a student government project that included introducing Kali's Law as a bill at a mock hearing. Below is a letter from him. We thought you might be interested to know about these students' involvement. Mr. Nichter's email address is below in case you want to contact him.

Best,
Lynlie

From: Richard Nichter
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2019 12:22 PM
To: Caroline Graham
Subject: Re: Meeting with Rep. Larson

Hi Caroline,

I'm sorry we could not align when the kids were in Austin. Thank you for all of your efforts. The good news is that after 2 long days the boys bill passed with a large majority. However, the student Governor, which just happened to be a classmate from their school vetoed the bill. Apparently some petty rivalry. (Just like real politics) Joshua and Ethan then worked the room of delegates and they received a unanimous vote to overturn the Governors veto.Even gaining the votes of the few delegates that had initially voted against the bill. The adult leadership said that an override of a veto was practically unprecedented and never with a a unanimous vote. Hopefully Rep. Larson will experience success as well. The boys were disappointed that they did not get to meet Rep. Larson. I am hoping we can still arrange a call at some point.

I know it is not the real thing, but the Gorzells might be happy to know that the boys were passionate in their arguments and told Kali's story to the delegates in the committee. The story of Kali's tragedy had a profound effect on the room and those delegates that rose to speak in support of the bill were as passionate as our boys that had initiated the bill. When veto was unanimously overturned the room erupted in applause from both students and adults. A lot of the bills presented this past weekend, while well done, were bland in nature. No bill brought at the passion that this bill did.

In a world that seems increasingly insensitive, focused on it's own selfish desires and wrapped up in social media, it was refreshing to see the students passion for this bill. Please let Rep. Larson know of the boys success and passion in support of Kali's law. Joshua and Ethan will be following the progress of the bill. If I can do anything to help coordinate an opportunity for them to speak with Rep. Larson or the Gorzells if you guys deem appropriate please let me know. My son Joshua is on the left in the pic below.

Sincerely,

Richard Nichter
Proud Parent

________________________________________
From: Caroline Graham
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2019 8:52 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Meeting with Rep. Larson

Hi Mr. Nichter,

I hope you are doing well. I just wanted to follow up with you and see when you all are planning on being here at the Capitol next week? Please just let me know.

Thanks,
Caroline

Caroline Graham
Legislative Director/Scheduler
State Representative Lyle Larson
House District 122
512.463.0646 | E2.406

01/14/2019

Our friend Dana Gage lost her 14 year old son Connor in a drowning accident a while back and very much understands how life is forever changed when our loved ones are stolen early. Please read and share her post below.

https://www.facebook.com/1081247853/posts/10215285852434525/

01/07/2019

I'm sure that most of you haven't seen the following news story from the Houston Press. Share with your friends that are boaters. As I mentioned in an earlier post, it's a long tragic story that can not end.

The Coast Guard dropped the ball on this one. You might wonder why. Their initial inadequate handling of the flats boats issue led to an internal investigation which exposed special relationships between Coast Folks and special interest folks in the boating industry. Disciplinary action followed and they reopened the investigation.

The boat builders always blame the boat drivers as evidenced in the news article. Please note that the builder claims to have destroyed the hull mold in 2009 because the state was investigating the hull for problems with it sliding and swapping ends. Pitiful!

One moment Danny Twardowski is guiding the prow of the boat to the right through the waters of Laguna Madre near Corpus Christi the morning of June 21, 2014, on his way to another fishing spot with his two sons. The next, the bug-juice-green vessel seems to have a mind...

01/05/2019

Greetings!

I’m sure many of you are wondering why I’m posting so much "Live Like Kali" stuff lately. We need to build awareness of what Kali’s Law is all about. It is indeed a long and tragic story. The 86th Texas Legislative Session kicks off on January 8th next week. Our State Representative Lyle Larson has filed HB-337 and our Senator Donna Campbell filed SB-210. These bills are Kali’s Law. Kali’s Law will help prevent future boating tragedies and honor Kali’s memory. Kali’s Law will require boat drivers to utilize their cut-off/kill switches when their motorized boats 26 feet in length or less are underway.

Many of you probably don’t know that in the last legislative session (85th) in 2017, Kali’s Law (House Bill 1988 - sponsored by Representative Lyle Larson) passed the House of Representatives but was never voted on in the senate. Kali’s Law and about 100 other House Bills were never voted on by the Senate and met their demise in the infamous 2017 Texas Mother’s Day Massacre. A handful (12) Texas Freedom Caucus Representatives became “Angry over what they described as "petty personal politics," executed a plan to use a procedural maneuver to kill more than 100 bills — a "Mother's Day Massacre" they carried out that Friday morning”. Many very worthwhile bills expired because this event. Many Texans lost their lives or were injured since then because of “petty personal politics”. In a word “shameful". In the 2017 session Kali's Law was referred to as the "No Brainer Law". Saving lives and preventing injuries sounded like a great idea.

https://www.texastribune.org/2017/05/12/house-gop-tensions-come-head-mothers-day-massacre/

Kali’s death was not just another boating accident. Hers was a wrongful death. The boat that took her life should have never been allowed on the water. This boat has a defective hull design that has tendencies to swap ends under a variety of circumstances like turning, crossing wakes or waves, rough water, striking objects, allowing passengers in front of the console… This happens in a fraction of a second and there's never a warning. What’s disturbing is that multiple boat builders have and are still manufacturing boats with these design flaws knowing that these boats are very dangerous and unpredictable.

Equally disturbing is the fact that the United States Coast Guard has sponsored several very expensive studies of these boats where the boating engineers and marine architects concluded that boats with these design flaws should not be allowed for recreational boating. The Coast Guard has stated that they don’t have the authorization to recall these defective boats and can only advise builders to clean up their act. They've asked the builders to voluntarily affix a warning sticker on these boats warning boaters of the danger. This won't happen because the truth would hurt their sales on these awful boats. The boating industry is pretty much a renegade industry that's unregulated. I know this is hard to believe, but it's true.

The Coast Guard even hired a boat engineering company to design aftermarket fixes for these boats. They designed several fixes that stabilized the defective hulls. It's unfortunate that the folks that own these boats don't know anything about these fixes. I don’t believe to date a single boat has been retrofitted by any manufacturer. They will keep their heads buried in the sand until the day they get sued over a horrific accident. I believe it’s criminal to know you’ve sold a deadly product to the unsuspecting public and you choose to look the other way.

We Texans were blessed with the Laguna Madre and cursed with certain flats boats to fish it. We have a disproportionate number of these boats because of shallow water bay fishing in Texas. If the driver of the boat that took Kali’s life had used his cut-off/kill switch that day, Kali may have been spared and would have graduated from college with all her friends last year. Cut-off/kill switches save lives and prevent countless injuries.

Live Like Kali!

Long-simmering tensions among House Republicans boiled over Thursday night when the Freedom Caucus announced a plan to kill more than 100 bills.

01/03/2019