Bill Text: CA ACR113 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Chaptered
Bill Title: Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2017.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Passed) 2017-09-21 - Chaptered by Secretary of State - Res. Chapter 167, Statutes of 2017. [ACR113 Detail]
Download: California-2017-ACR113-Chaptered.html
| Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 113 |
| CHAPTER 167 |
Relative to the Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2017.
[
Filed with
Secretary of State
September 21, 2017.
]
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
ACR 113, Rubio.
Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2017.
This measure would recognize August 2017 as the Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2017 in California. The measure would encourage Californians to work together to support breastfeeding.
Digest Key
Fiscal Committee: NOBill Text
WHEREAS, Breastfeeding is of great importance to women, children, families, and physicians; thus it is also of great importance to the Legislature; and
WHEREAS, The American Academy of Pediatrics, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Academy of Family Physicians, the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine, and the World Health Organization recommend that children be exclusively breastfed for the first six months of age and continue to be breastfed until 12 months of age or longer as mutually desired; and
WHEREAS, Only 24.8 percent of California children are exclusively breastfed at six months of age; and
WHEREAS, In January 2011, the United States Surgeon General announced a "Call to Action to Support Breastfeeding" that identifies barriers to optimal breastfeeding in health care practices, employment, communities, research, public health infrastructure, and social networks, and recommends methods in which families, communities, employers, and health care professionals could help eliminate those barriers to improve breastfeeding rates and increase support for breastfeeding; and
WHEREAS, Research shows that breastfeeding provides advantages to general health, growth, and development while significantly decreasing the risk of a large number of acute and chronic diseases, including, among others, sudden infant death syndrome, asthma, allergies, diabetes, viral and bacterial infections, childhood obesity, childhood leukemia, necrotizing enterocolitis, and infant mortality; and
WHEREAS, Mothers who breastfeed have a decreased risk of breast, uterine and ovarian cancers, postpartum depression, and osteoporosis; and
WHEREAS, The nutrients exclusive to breast milk are vital to the growth, development, and maintenance of a children’s brain and cannot be manufactured; and
WHEREAS, The United States Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service estimates that at least 3.6 billion dollars in medical expenses could be saved each year if the number of children breastfed for at least six months increased to 50 percent; and
WHEREAS, Breastfeeding results in positive economic impacts for families by eliminating the need to purchase infant formula and by decreasing the need to pay for medical care for a sick child and; and
WHEREAS, The health benefits to breastfed children and their mothers result in lower health care costs for employers, less employee time off to care for sick children, higher employee productivity, and an increase in employee loyalty; and
WHEREAS, Employers, employees, and society benefit by supporting a mother’s decision to breastfeed and by helping to reduce the obstacles to initiating and continuing breastfeeding; now, therefore, be it
Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, the Senate thereof concurring, That August 2017 is recognized as the Breastfeeding Awareness Month of 2017 in California; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature further recognizes the unique health, economic, and societal benefits that breastfeeding provides to mothers, children, families, and the community as a whole and encourages Californians to work together to support breastfeeding and ensure that barriers to initiation and continuation of breastfeeding be removed; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature encourages employers to support their employees who breastfeed by striving to provide accommodations of appropriate space and time; and be it further
Resolved, That the Legislature encourages programs that administer maternal or child health services to provide information about breastfeeding to program participants, and to support program participants when they choose to breastfeed; and be it further
Resolved, That the Chief Clerk of the Assembly transmit copies of this resolution to the author for appropriate distribution.
