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March 2008 |
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In this edition: *Senate Select Committee Troubled by Governor's Inaction *Robert Gottlieb Book Signing at Prevention Institute Offices in Oakland |
Troubled by Governor’s Inaction: California Government Leaders and Advocates Concerned Over Status of Implementation of Governor’s Obesity Prevention Plan
On February 20th, 2008, the California Senate Select Committee on Obesity and Diabetes concluded that the Governor and his administration have done little to uphold commitments to improve nutrition and physical activity environments throughout California. The committee met to review progress since the Governor’s Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity in September 2005 and the release of the Governor’s Obesity Prevention Plan in September of 2006. The hearing was attended by Committee Chair, Senator Alex Padilla, Senator Tom Torlakson, Senator Gloria Negrete McLeod (Chair of the Women’s Caucus), and Assemblymember Mark DeSaulnier. Senator Padilla concluded that the administration has lost its initial momentum from 2005 to address the obesity epidemic in California, and has done little to actually implement the strategies proposed in their own plan. Xin Guan, a youth advocate who testified at the hearing asked, “How can we defeat obesity when the government fails to follow through with its obesity prevention platform?” The Governor’s Summit in 2005 marked a significant starting point for policy change—Governor Schwarzenegger released the Governor’s Vision for a Healthy California, modeled after Strategic Alliance’s Taking Action Platform, and signed legislation to get junk food and soda out of schools. However, “the administration’s efforts didn’t just peak too early, they peaked on day one…two and a half years ago,” according to Senator Padilla. In September 2006, Strategic Alliance noted that momentum had already begun to wane since the Summit in The Anniversary of the Governor’s Action Summit: Recommitting to Health. Consequently, it was disappointing but not surprising that the general conclusion at the hearing was that Governor Schwarzenegger and his administration had not maintained the initial momentum and commitment to the issue, and needed to be doing more in the policy arena to ensure that the objectives of the Plan are met in a timely manner. A panel of five health advocates provided testimony at the hearing, four of whom are members of the Strategic Alliance Steering Committee:
A number of key issues were raised by the panel of health advocates, including: Committees and workgroups have yet to produce concrete outcomes. Various committees and workgroups that formed as a result of the 2005 Summit have only met a handful of times, and their recommendations have not been put into practice. Harold Goldstein, member of the Summit Planning Committee and Co-Chair of the Get Healthy California Workgroup, the leadership group responsible for advancing statewide nutrition and activity efforts after the Summit, described the declining excitement among the administration once the summit was over: “It as if this Super Bowl Team scored easily the first two times they got the ball, and then the head coach—the Governor—walked off the field to do something else and brought most of his coaching staff with him.” (BACK) Industry has not been held accountable for following through on commitments. The administration has not been forceful enough in changing food and beverage industry practices, and has relied too heavily on voluntary action. At the Governor’s Summit, Governor Schwarzenegger challenged leaders in government, business, education, medicine and parenting to make California the nation's model for health, nutrition and fitness. Organizations that responded to the Governor’s call with commitments to making nutritious foods and exercise more accessible for Californians were recognized as members of the Governor’s Summit Honor Roll. Senator Padilla, in response to Dr. Mark Horton’s (Director of the California Department of Public Health) defense of a “collaborative approach with industry”, asserted that “there are times when we must stand up to industry. We didn’t get where we are today with tobacco by collaborating.” Senator Padilla’s staff contacted Honor Roll companies, and found that “a full third of the companies on the Governor’s Honor Roll did not fulfill their 2005 commitments [of significance].” Some companies admitted they had not followed through, others claimed they knew nothing about the commitments, and some even expressed desire to follow through on the commitments but had not been able to due to lack of government support. Brenden Theaters told Padilla’s staff that they had not run Public Service Announcements (PSAs) for the “Get Healthy California” campaign before movie screenings because the administration never provided them with the PSAs. “Padilla’s staff also found that Dole “not only had failed to meet its commitment to provide portable salad bars to 50 California schools [but] also that for a school to receive the promised salad bars they had to sign a contract committing the school to purchasing a one-year supply of Dole products.” These are just a few examples of the disappointing responses Padilla’s staff reported. (BACK) Statewide media advocacy campaigns are fragmented and poorly coordinated. The Plan called for a coordinated state-wide media advocacy campaign. Instead, there have been multiple uncoordinated and fragmented media campaigns that have not been broad-based and have not partnered with programs serving the target populations. Laurie True characterized this lack of coordination as “a missed opportunity” and a “waste of precious resources.” (BACK) Combining obesity prevention strategies into one piece of legislation has hindered implementation. Though advocates commended the administration for including obesity prevention strategies on the healthcare reform agenda, they also criticized the lumping of these strategies into a larger agenda, and for having their implementation dependent on one piece of legislation. Last month, the Senate Health Committee defeated Healthcare Reform Bill ABX1-1, which included many elements of the Governor’s plan for obesity prevention as part of the broader legislation. Senator Padilla criticized that “there should be wide and diverse efforts that do not depend on one bill. Do not put all your eggs in one basket.” (BACK) The Governor has contradicted his own recommendations by vetoing and denying funding to bills that would put elements of the Plan into action. Though menu labeling was one of the 51 strategies put forth in the Governor’s Plan, he vetoed SB 120, the menu labeling bill. This contradiction of his own plan was disappointing to the panel. “Many of us were just astounded last year when the Governor even vetoed legislation implementing a key policy included in his own obesity prevention plan,” said Harold Goldstein. In addition, the Governor has not provided funding to back legislation for successful programs such as the California Fresh Start Pilot Program (CFS) and the Healthy Purchase Pilot Program that both directly reflect healthy eating strategies recommended for implementation in his Plan. Ken Hecht states that “Despite extraordinary reception, CFS has been eliminated... Unaccountably, the Governor has failed to make any effort to fund the Healthy Purchase Pilot, and it remains stillborn.” Youth advocate, Xin Guan, posed the question, “How can we defeat obesity if healthy foods are not made available to kids that need them?” (BACK) The panel of health advocates proposed a variety of recommendations to get California’s Obesity Prevention agenda back on track, many of which reiterated Strategic Alliance’s 2006 Taking Action for a Healthy California checklist. In essence, there needs to be greater accountability, coordination, and commitment to implementing the Plan. State government has made significant first step to correcting and improving nutrition and physical activity environments by putting forth a plan that strives to create healthy communities throughout the state. The 2006 Obesity Plan clearly delineates strategies that have the greatest potential to influence health outcomes; two and a half years after Governor Schwarzenegger and his administration first demonstrated support for improving nutrition and physical activity, it is time to take aggressive steps to put the Plan into action. As Goldstein told the administration in his testimony, advocates are “ready to work with [the Legislature], the Governor and the Administration, to establish policy reforms that are needed to turn this epidemic around.” Larry Cohen perhaps summarized the sentiment best: “There are already many starting points for action. We already have a strong strategy. It is now a question of attention and commitment.” Read testimony from the hearing:
Read Taking Action and The Anniversary of the Governor’s Action Summit: Recommitting to Health. Read the Governor’s Summit and Obesity Plan: This Obesity Prevention Plan was released in September, 2006, one year after Governor Schwarzenegger convened the Summit on Health, Nutrition and Obesity where he released the “Governor’s Vision for a Healthy California.” The Governor’s Summit served as a solid beginning to correct and improve damaging nutrition and physical activity environments throughout the state and was characterized by the administration as “a call to action to bring focus and momentum to the transformation that is needed to create a healthy California in which we all want to live” (California Obesity Prevention Plan, 2006). The Summit included “Commitments of Significance” from 25 private sector companies and non-profit organizations to take specific steps to improve the health of Californians. These initial steps by the administration to shift social norms through policy change were exciting developments, particularly for Strategic Alliance since the Governor’s Vision echoed the coalition’s Taking Action for a Healthier California: Recommendations to Improve Healthy Food and Activity Options. *We would like to acknowledge Sarah Clark of Samuels and Associates for providing her notes from the hearing. (BACK) ... ... ... Robert Gottlieb Book Signing at Prevention Institute Offices Join Prevention Institute for a special Bay Area event featuring author, Robert Gottlieb, Director of the Urban and Environmental Policy Institute, discussing his newest book, Reinventing Los Angeles: Nature and Community in the Global City, and the powerful influences of immigration and economic globalization as they intersect with changes in the politics of water, transportation, and land use (Download an event flyer). Please help spread the word! ... ... ... The Ethics of Food and the Environment Events March 4 -April 23, Palo Alto, CA Screening of King Corn and Panel Discussion Sustainable Food in Health Care Roundtable Celebration of Nutrition and Fitness Advocacy in California CA Center for Public Health Advocacy 2008 Awards Luncheon and Fundraiser March 6th, Los Angeles, CA; 12-1:30pm Climate Change, Land Use, Sustainability, and Public Health Making Change Matter: Maximizing Impact of New WIC Foods New date! April 7, Los Angeles, CA More Events
Thanks for reading! The Strategic Alliance is currently engaged in building a broad and diverse statewide membership. If you were forwarded this e-mail and want to receive your own copy in the future, please click here or e-mail carol@preventioninstitute.org. And if you’re already a member, please forward this message to your colleagues so we can continue to strengthen our coalition. Thank you!
WHAT IS THE STRATEGIC ALLIANCE? The Strategic Alliance is reframing the debate on nutrition and physical activity away from a focus solely on individual choice and lifestyle towards one of environmental influences and corporate and government responsibility. Current Steering Committee members are: California Adolescent Nutrition and Fitness Program (CANFit), California Center for Public Health Advocacy (CCPHA), California Food Policy Advocates (CFPA), California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, California Park and Recreation Society (CPRS), California Project LEAN, California WIC Association (CWA), Child Care Food Program Roundtable, Latino Health Access, Partnership for the Public’s Health, Prevention Institute, Samuels & Associates, and YMCA of the East Bay.
The Strategic Alliance is supported by funding from The California Endowment.
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