BILL NUMBER: AB 1357 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 26, 2015
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Bloom
FEBRUARY 27, 2015
An act relating to chronic disease. An act
to add Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 104895.5) to Part 3 of
Division 103 of the Health and Safety Code, relating to public
health.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 1357, as amended, Bloom. Chronic disease.
Children and Family Health Promotion Program.
Existing law provides various programs that prevent disease and
promote health.
This bill would establish the Children and Family Health Promotion
Program in the Department of Public Health. This bill would require
the program to consist of a competitive grant process in which grants
are awarded by the department to counties, cities, nonprofit
organizations, community-based organizations, and licensed clinics
that seek to invest in childhood obesity and diabetes prevention
activities and oral health programs. The bill would authorize the
department to award a grant to any entity that will use the grant to
support programs that use educational, environmental, policy, and
other public health approaches to achieve specified goals.
This bill would require the department to develop an application
and application process for the program, and would provide that the
program will be funded by moneys appropriated by the Legislature to
the department for this purpose.
This bill would make legislative findings and declarations
relating to the consumption of sweetened beverages, childhood
obesity, and dental disease.
Existing law provides various programs for the monitoring,
treatment, and prevention of chronic disease in California, including
heart disease, cancer, and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact
legislation that would address the public health crisis relating to
the growing prevalence of preventable chronic disease.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no
yes . State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all
of the following:
(a) Over 2.3 million California adults report having been
diagnosed with diabetes, representing one out of every 12 adult
Californians. The vast majority of diabetes cases in California are
type 2, representing 1.9 million adults.
(b) According to the California Department of Public Health,
diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in California, and
determined to be the underlying cause of death in almost 8,000 people
each year. Diabetes may be underreported as a cause of death, and is
a contributing factor to many deaths from heart disease and stroke.
(c) Adults with type 2 diabetes more often have other health
problems. One out of every two adults with type 2 diabetes also has
hypertension. This is two times higher than among those without
diabetes. Adults with diabetes are also two times more likely to have
cardiovascular disease than adults without diabetes.
(d) Hispanics, African Americans, Native Americans, and
Asian/Pacific Islanders have higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes
than non-Hispanic Whites. Hispanics and African Americans have two
times higher prevalence: 7 percent of non-Hispanic Whites have type 2
diabetes, compared with 12 percent of Latinos, 9 percent of Asian
Americans, 14 percent of Pacific Islander Americans, 13 percent of
African Americans, and 17.5 percent of Native American populations.
(e) Type 2 diabetes, previously only seen among adults, is now
increasing among children. If the current obesity trends are not
reversed, it is predicted that one in three children and nearly
one-half of Latino and African American children born in the year
2000 will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime. Research shows
that overweight children have a much greater chance of being obese as
adults, with all the health risks that entails. Heart disease is the
leading cause of death in the United States, with diabetes as the
seventh leading cause of death.
(f) There is overwhelming evidence of the link between obesity,
diabetes, and heart disease and the consumption of sweetened
beverages, such as soft drinks, energy drinks, sweet teas, and sports
drinks. California adults who drink a soda or more per day are 27
percent more likely to be overweight or obese, regardless of income
or ethnicity.
(g) The rate of children who are overweight has also increased
dramatically in recent decades. After being relatively constant from
the 1960s to the 1970s, the prevalence of overweight children has
more than quadrupled among children between 6 and 11 years of age and
nearly tripled among those between 12 and 19 years of age. In
California in 2010, 38 percent of children in grades 5, 7, and 9 were
overweight or obese. Thirty-one of California's 58 counties
experienced an increase in childhood overweight from 2005 to 2010.
(h) The obesity epidemic is of particular concern because obesity
increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, certain types of
cancer, arthritis, asthma, and breathing problems. Depending on their
level of obesity, from 60 percent to over 80 percent of obese adults
have type 2 diabetes, high blood cholesterol, high blood pressure,
or other related conditions. It has been reported that up to 60
percent of obese children 5 to 10 years of age have early signs of
heart disease.
(i) According to nutritional experts, sweetened beverages, such as
soft drinks, energy drinks, sweet teas, and sport drinks, offer
little or no nutritional value, but massive quantities of added
sugars. A 20-ounce bottle of soda contains the equivalent of
approximately 16 teaspoons of sugar. Yet, the American Heart
Association recommends that Americans consume no more than five to
nine teaspoons of sugar per day.
(j) Research shows that almost one-half of the extra calories
Americans consume in their diet comes from sugar sweetened beverages,
with the average American drinking nearly 50 gallons of
sugar-sweetened beverages a year, the equivalent of 39 pounds of
extra sugar every year.
(k) Research shows that 41 percent of California children 2 to 11
years of age and 62 percent of California teens 12 to 17 years of age
drink soda daily, and for every additional serving of sweetened
beverage that a child consumes a day, the likelihood of the child
becoming obese increases by 60 percent.
(l) The proportion of youth drinking at least one sugary beverage
per day was highest among Latinos at 48 percent, significantly higher
than among whites at 33 percent. African- American youth, at 43
percent, and multi-racial youth, at 46 percent, also had
significantly higher consumption than whites.
(m) Dental caries (tooth decay) are the most common chronic
childhood disease, experienced by more than two-thirds of California'
s children. Children who frequently or excessively consume beverages
high in sugar are at increased risk for dental caries. Untreated
dental caries can lead to pain, infection, tooth loss, and in severe
cases, even death. It can slow normal growth and development by
restricting nutritional intake. Children who are missing teeth may
have chewing problems that limit their food choices and result in
nutritionally inadequate diets.
(n) It is the intent of the Legislature to create a program
designed to prevent and treat obesity, diabetes, heart and dental
disease and reduce the burden of attendant health conditions that
result from the overconsumption of sweetened beverages.
SEC. 2. Chapter 5 (commencing with Section
104895.5) is added to Part 3 of Division 103 of the Health
and Safety Code , to read:
CHAPTER 5. CHILDREN AND FAMILY HEALTH PROMOTION PROGRAM
104895.5. (a) The Children and Family Health Promotion Program is
hereby established in the Department of Public Health.
(b) The program shall consist of a competitive grant process in
which grants are awarded by the department to counties, cities,
nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, and clinics
licensed pursuant to Chapter 1 (commencing with Section 1200) of
Division 2 that seek to invest in childhood obesity and diabetes
prevention activities and oral health programs.
(c) The department may award a grant to any entity described in
subdivision (b) that will use the grant to support programs that use
educational, environmental, policy, and other public health
approaches to achieve all the following goals:
(1) Improve access to, and consumption of, healthy, safe, and
affordable foods and beverages.
(2) Reduce access to, and consumption of, calorie-dense and
nutrient-poor foods.
(3) Encourage physical activity and decrease sedentary behavior.
(4) Raise awareness about the importance of nutrition and physical
activity to childhood obesity and diabetes prevention.
(d) The department shall develop an application and application
process for the program.
(e) Applicants interested receiving a grant shall submit an
application to the department.
(f) The program shall be funded by any moneys appropriated by the
Legislature to the department for this purpose.
SECTION 1. It is the intent of the Legislature
to enact legislation that would address the public health crisis
relating to the growing prevalence of preventable chronic disease.