Rogers / 3 Senator Capener

S.R._____

A BILL
To create and implement a program that informs children of the health risks of obesity and how to prevent them.
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Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE
This act may be cited as the Improvement of Health Act of 2015.
SECTION 2. FINDINGS
Congress hereby finds and declares that,
1) Nearly one-third of U.S. children are overweight or obese.
2) Those who regularly had the school lunch were 29 percent more likely to be obese than those who brought lunch
from home.
3) To stay at a healthy weight, calories eaten should equal calories burned; when you eat more calories than you burn,
the leftover gets stored as fat.
4) The adult obesity rate rose to 29.4 percent in 2014 from 27.6 percent in 2013, while the percentage of those
reporting no physical activity in the previous 30 days increased to 23.5 percent from 22.9 percent.
5) The combination of high physical activity and low leisure time sitting seems to protect against becoming obese
than either behavior on its own.
6) Being overweight or obese puts you at risk for a number of diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, high blood
pressure, cancer, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, and respiratory disorders; risks of developing these
diseases is even higher when weight is concentrated near the waist.
7) By the age of ten, 60 percent of overweight children had at least one biochemical or clinical cardiovascular risk
factor and 25 percent had more than two.
8) Commonly suggested modifiable public health strategies to combat childhood obesity are promoting
breastfeeding, limiting television viewing, encouraging physical activity, increasing fruit and vegetable intake,
controlling portion size, and limiting soft drink consumption.
9) About 50 percent of U.S. adults and 65 percent of adolescents do not currently get the recommended amount of
daily physical activity.
10) 2 percent of children in the U.S. eat a healthy diet.
11) By age ten, 60 percent of overweight children had at least one biochemical or clinical cardiovascular risk
factor and 25 percent had more than two.
SECTION 3. STATUTORY LANGUAGE
A) The Improvement of Health Act of 2015 shall create and implement a program that informs children of the health
risks of obesity and how to prevent them. The Director of the National Institute of Health (NIH) shall carry out this
section in collaboration with the Department of Education and any other agencies that the (NIH) determines
appropriate. The NIH and Department of Education shall establish and implement a program to provide information
and education on obesity and health to public and private schools nationwide from kindergarten to twelfth grade if
approved by their individual administration. The curriculum shall include information and education on advances in
the diagnosis and treatment of obesity and training on continuing education through programs for counselors,
nutritionists and other health professionals who provide care for patients with obesity. All public schools,
kindergarten through twelfth grade are hereby required to implement obesity education programs in addition to
physical education classes at least three days a week throughout the entire school year. It is required that each school
has a part-time health expert working to assist with programs onsite at least two days per week.
B) The Department of Education and the NIH may use the funding hereby set at 500 million dollars allocated by
increasing income tax by 0.5 percent made available under this section to provide stipends for participants who are
enrolled in training programs.
C) All schools not following the protocols and procedures listed above are to be fined 50 percent of all funding of any
form from any origin. This bill is to be renewed every two years.This act shall be enacted on January 1, 2016.