Bill Text: HI SB1085 | 2013 | Regular Session | Amended

---

Bill Title: Obesity Prevention; Sugar-Sweetened Beverage Fee; Hawaii Interagency Obesity Prevention Council; Obesity and Chronic Disease Prevention Special Fund; Appropriation ($)

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-02-15 - Report adopted; Passed Second Reading, as amended (SD 1) and referred to WAM. [SB1085 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SB1085-Amended.html

---

 

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO. 421

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                  

 

RE:    S.B. No. 1085

       S.D. 1

 

 

 

Honorable Donna Mercado Kim

President of the Senate

Twenty-Seventh State Legislature

Regular Session of 2013

State of Hawaii

 

Madam:

 

     Your Committees on Health and Judiciary and Labor, to which was referred S.B. No. 1085 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO OBESITY PREVENTION,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose and intent of this measure is to discourage excessive consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages and prevent obesity by:

 

     (1)  Imposing a fee on sugar-sweetened beverages sold in the State; and

 

     (2)  Establishing the obesity prevention special fund to support obesity prevention programs.

 

     Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Governor; Department of Public Safety; Department of Human Resources Development; Department of Education; City Council, City and County of Honolulu; College of Health Sciences and Social Welfare, University of Hawaii at Manoa; Child and Family Service; Hawaii Association of Independent Schools; Pioneering Healthier Communities Leadership Team; and nine individuals.  Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the American Beverage Association; Hawaii Food Industry Association; Ito En (USA) Inc.; International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Local 142; and five individuals.

 

     Your Committees find that childhood obesity increased by thirty-eight percent in Hawaii between 1999 and 2009, while adult obesity more than doubled between 1996 and 2011.  Obesity-related medical expenditures in Hawaii were calculated to be over $470,000 in 2009 and are continuing to increase.  Sugar-sweetened beverages have been identified by many scientific studies as a major contributor to the costly obesity epidemic.

 

     Your Committees find that a fee on sugar-sweetened beverages will have beneficial fiscal and health impacts.  Economic disincentives are among the most effective tools to change behavior, as tobacco taxes have demonstrated.  This measure is an initial step to decrease obesity-related health problems, including diabetes, heart disease, sleep apnea, and orthopedic issues.

 

     Your Committees have amended this measure by:

 

     (1)  Amending the definition of "sugar-sweetened beverage" to include soy milk and rice milk;

 

     (2)  Renaming the obesity prevention special fund as the obesity and chronic disease prevention special fund and making conforming amendments;

 

     (3)  Designating non-school hour programs that support opportunities for physical activity and nutritional education as one of the authorized uses of monies from the obesity and chronic disease prevention special fund;

 

     (4)  Designating $250,000 per year of monies in the obesity and chronic disease prevention special fund to be allocated to each federally qualified community health center for preventative clinical services directly related to obesity-related chronic disease;

 

     (5)  Inserting language from S.B. No. 1145 (Regular Session of 2013), to establish the Hawaii Interagency Obesity Prevention Council to address child and adult obesity in Hawaii;

 

     (6)  Inserting an appropriation from the obesity and chronic disease prevention special fund to the department of health to support child and adult obesity and chronic disease prevention programs; and

 

     (7)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Judiciary and Labor that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 1085, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 1085, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Judiciary and Labor,

 

____________________________ CLAYTON HEE, Chair		____________________________ JOSH GREEN, Chair