Bill Text: TX HCR87 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Introduced
NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: Urging Congress to expand the Healthy Incentives Pilot for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients to communities across the country.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-18 - Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal [HCR87 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HCR87-Introduced.html
Bill Title: Urging Congress to expand the Healthy Incentives Pilot for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program recipients to communities across the country.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-18 - Statement(s) of vote recorded in Journal [HCR87 Detail]
Download: Texas-2011-HCR87-Introduced.html
82R10299 BPG-D | ||
By: Veasey | H.C.R. No. 87 |
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WHEREAS, During the past four decades, as Americans have | ||
increased their consumption of highly processed foods, obesity | ||
rates have soared among all age groups and have increased more than | ||
fourfold among children ages 6 to 11; today, nearly a third of | ||
children and adolescents are overweight or obese, which places them | ||
at higher risk for a host of serious illnesses; obese children are | ||
being diagnosed with health problems previously considered to be | ||
adult illnesses, including heart disease, stroke, asthma, and | ||
certain types of cancer; childhood obesity alone costs the United | ||
States an estimated $14 billion in health care expenses, and it is | ||
estimated that the obesity epidemic overall costs the nation $117 | ||
billion per year in direct medical expenses and indirect costs; and | ||
WHEREAS, Low-income individuals are particularly at risk for | ||
obesity-related diseases; accordingly, the United States | ||
Department of Agriculture has initiated an incentives-based | ||
program to promote healthier eating among participants in the | ||
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the | ||
food stamp program; and | ||
WHEREAS, The 2008 federal Farm Bill authorized $20 million | ||
for USDA to test whether incentives to buy fresh produce can | ||
increase the purchase of healthy foods; the Healthy Incentives | ||
Pilot is being conducted in Hampden County, Massachusetts, where | ||
7,500 randomly selected SNAP households will receive a 30-cent | ||
bonus for every dollar they spend on fruits and vegetables using | ||
their SNAP Electronic Benefit Transfer cards; and | ||
WHEREAS, Processed foods high in fat and sugar are less | ||
expensive than fresh produce, and this pilot program represents a | ||
significant step toward reducing the financial barriers that | ||
prevent low-income residents from adopting healthier eating | ||
habits; and | ||
WHEREAS, Over the course of a year, more than one in seven | ||
Americans participate in SNAP, half of them being children, and it | ||
is vital that this program promote healthy eating as well as food | ||
security; in a 2008 report, the U.S. Government Accountability | ||
Office found encouraging results from studies examining the | ||
effectiveness of financial incentives to increase fruit and | ||
vegetable consumption among SNAP households; and | ||
WHEREAS, The Healthy Incentives Pilot has the potential to | ||
positively influence the diets of low-income individuals, thereby | ||
reducing obesity and its attendant health care costs, and with such | ||
critical outcomes at stake, the program should not be limited to | ||
just one community; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the 82nd Legislature of the State of Texas | ||
hereby respectfully urge the United States Congress to expand the | ||
Healthy Incentives Pilot to communities across the country; and, be | ||
it further | ||
RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official | ||
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to | ||
the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House of | ||
Representatives of the United States Congress, to the secretary of | ||
agriculture, and to all the members of the Texas delegation to | ||
Congress with the request that this resolution be entered in the | ||
Congressional Record as a memorial to the Congress of the United | ||
States of America. |