Enacts the "New York state health kids act"

Title of bill

An act to amend the public health law, the education law and the agriculture and markets law, in relation to establishing nutritional standards for certain foods and beverages sold in schools

Summary of provisions

Section 1: The act shall be known and may be cited as the "New York State Healthy Kids Act".

Section two would amend the Public Law 2599-c by requiring the Commissioner of Health, in consultation with the Commissioner of Education as well as the Commissioner of Agriculture develop recommendations for nutritional and dietary standards for food and beverages sold in school consistent with section nine hundred fifteen of the Education Law. The recommendations shall be provided in writing to the Commissioner of Education no later than August thirty-first two thousand and ten, and revised recommendations shall be provided as deemed necessary by the Commissioner.

Section three would amend the Education Law 915 to define the term "School Meals" as meals that meet the nutritional requirements of, and are reimbursable under any program authorized by the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act of 1966.

Section four would amend the Agriculture and Markets law by adding a new section 28 to require the commissioner to provide consultation to the commissioners of education and health in establishing and revising nutritional and dietary standards for healthy school snacks, a la carte items and beverages.

Section 5: Severability clause. Any court action is only applicable to that particular part of the law and not to the law entirely.

Section 6: The act shall take effect immediately.

Justification

The New York State Department of Health estimates that one in four New Yorkers under the age of 18, or approximately 1.1 million young people, is obese.

* Tommy Thompson, former secretary of U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, has stated that nearly 15% of all children are obese or overweight. Minorities are faring worse than the overall population.

* Poor nutrition, overweight and inactivity cause at least 1/3 of all cancers.

* For both children ages 2 to 5 and youth ages 12 to 19, the obesity rate has nearly tripled during the last 30 years.

* Rena Wing, Ph.D., a professor of psychiatry at Brown Medical School, the co-developer of a research study known as the National Weight Control Registry, reported that more than 70% of the registries weight losers became overweight before the age of 18.

* Excess body weight in children dramatically increases their risk of developing heart disease in adulthood; obesity aggravates hypertension, which contributes to the 1 cause of death in the U.S. - heart disease.

* Obesity affects every organ system in a child's body, and it can do so in a much more profound way than in adults because children are still growing and developing.

New York State has a new epidemic, and it is called childhood obesity. According to a recent report by the New York State comptroller Thomas DiNapoli, children eat a large portion of their daily food intake at school. We must make certain that all children, especially those children prone to obesity are eating healthy meals. Even if it is only one meal a day we can drastically change the outcome of this epidemic by creating nutritional standards and enforcing them accordingly.

Legislative history

New Legislation.

Fiscal implications

Not applicable.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately.