1 / 20

Maine Public Health Association

Maine Public Health Association. Legislative and Policy Updates State Coordinating Council June 23rd, 2011. Agenda. MPHA General Public Health Agenda Obesity Prevention Tobacco Control Fund for a Healthy Maine. MPHA’s Legislative Philosophy.

Lucy
Download Presentation

Maine Public Health Association

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Maine Public Health Association Legislative and Policy Updates State Coordinating Council June 23rd, 2011

  2. Agenda • MPHA General Public Health Agenda • Obesity Prevention • Tobacco Control • Fund for a Healthy Maine

  3. MPHA’s Legislative Philosophy • MPHA’s support or opposition to policy initiatives are always evidence-based. • MPHA takes our capacity into consideration when developing our Legislative agenda and does not duplicate the efforts of others. • Most of our financial resources this session were in the areas of tobacco, obesity and protecting the FHM. • Committee members were able to weigh in on many other public health initiatives.

  4. MPHA General Public Health • LD 64, An Act To Make a Violation of the Laws Governing Seat Belts a Secondary Offense—Dead • Sponsored by Sen. Collins (R-York) • Would have rolled back seatbelt protections • LD 300, An Act To Increase the Availability of Lead Testing for Children—Passed • Sponsored by Sen. Craven (D-Lewiston) • This bill allows a health care provider, Head Start facility or health care facility or clinic that dispenses WIC benefits approved by the Department of Health and Human Services to perform in-office blood lead analyses under the Lead Poisoning Control Act.

  5. MPHA General Public Health • LD 31, An Act To Protect the Safety of Maine Children by Requiring the Express Consent of a Legal Guardian To Dispense Prescription Medication to a Minor—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Cebra (R-Naples) • LD 116, An Act To Require a 24-hour Waiting Period prior to an Abortion—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Clark (R-Easton) • LD 924, An Act To Educate Women on the Medical Risks Associated with Abortion—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Espling (R-New Gloucester)

  6. MPHA General Public Health • LD 412, Resolve, Regarding Legislative Review of Portions of Chapter 882: Designation of Bisphenol A as a Priority Chemical and Regulation of Bisphenol A in Children's Products, a Major Substantive Rule of the Department of Environmental Protection—Passed without signature • Sponsor, Rep. Hamper (R-Oxford) • Accepts major substantive rules • LD 1248, An Act To Require Approval by the Voters of Legislation To Enact or Increase a Tax or Fee—DEAD • Sponsor, Sen. Thibodeau (R- Waldo)

  7. Legislative Agenda (Obesity) • LD 1280, An Act to Establish a Pilot Physical Education Project in Four Maine Schools—passed without funding • Sponsored by Rep. Rochelo (D-Biddeford) • Pilot program to implement strategies for schools to meet national recommendations for PE minutes and PA within the school day. • Fitness surveillance system would be established whereby data is passed from schools to the state. • LD 971, An Act to Improve the Health of Maine Students—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Cornell du Houx (D-Brunswick) • 20 minutes of daily physical activity for all students in grades 1 to 8.

  8. Legislative Agenda (Obesity) • LD 505, An Act to Align State Standards Pertaining to Food and Beverages outside of the School Lunch Program to Federal Standards—Passed as Amended • Sponsored by Rep. Flood (R-Winthrop) • Align with Federal Standards. Exemption for culinary arts programs. Amended as we requested. • LD 813, An Act to Require Every School Administrative Unit to Have a Food Service Director—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Rankin (D-Hiram) • A food service director may be hired by >1 SAU. Meet applicable qualifications of HHFKA 2010.

  9. Legislative Agenda (Obesity) • LD 936, An Act to Conform Maine Menu Labeling Laws to Federal Standards—Carried Over • Sponsored by Rep. Strang Burgess (R-Cumberland) • Follow FDA menu labeling rules from ACA. • Rules not finalized yet so AG recommended carry over. • LD 1446, An Act to Establish the Maine Farm and Fish Program—Passed without signature • Sponsored by Rep. McCabe (D-Skowhegan) • Became a resolve to have AG, MR and ED work with non-profits on 2 pilot programs.

  10. Legislative Agenda (Tobacco) • LD 216, Resolve, To Prohibit Smokers from Receiving MaineCare Benefits—Passed as amended • Sponsor Sen. Saviello (R-Franklin) • Would have eliminated Medicaid eligibility for smokers. • Rep. Saviello agreed to revise bill to support the continued partnership between MaineCare and the ME CDC in addressing tobacco use among MaineCare members. • LD 481, An Act To Make the Cashier or Clerk Who Sells Alcoholic Beverages or Tobacco to an Underage Person Responsible for Paying the Fine—DEAD • Sponsor Rep. Ayotte (R-Caswell) • Would place liability for underage sales of tobacco and alcohol to minors on the employee, and take liability away from the retailer

  11. Legislative Agenda (Tobacco) • LD 406 replaced by LD 1505, An Act To Clarify the Scope of Practice of Licensed Alcohol and Drug Counselors Regarding Tobacco Use—Passed as Emergency Measure • Sponsored by Rep. Cain (D-Orono) • Allow licensed addiction counselors to provide tobacco treatment counseling. • LD 589, An Act To Increase the Legal Age To Purchase, Use or Sell Tobacco Products—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Les Fossel (R-Alna) • Proposed to increase the age to purchase, use and sell tobacco products to 21.

  12. Legislative Agenda (Tobacco) • LD 1230, An Act To Prohibit Smoking in Private Clubs Except in Separate Enclosed Areas—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Blodgett (D-Augusta) • Seeks to amend rules related to smoking in private clubs, requiring that clubs prohibited smoking in the facility unless confined to designated indoor spaces or outdoor spaces. • LD 1067, An Act To Improve Awareness of Smoking Policies in Maine Rental Housing and Condominiums—Passed • Sponsored by Rep. Sanborn (D-Gorham) • Amended version weaker, but still requires landlords to disclose whether smoking is permitted or not.

  13. Legislative Agenda (Tobacco) • LD 1119, An Act To Amend the Laws Governing the Sale of Certain Tobacco Products—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Strang Burgess (R-Cumberland) • Amends law banning the sale of certain flavored tobacco products to include flavored cigar wraps and papers. • LD 536, An Act To Help Deter Youth Smoking and To Help Smokers Quit—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Elsie Flemings (D-Bar Harbor) • Increases the cigarette tax by $1.50 to $3.50

  14. Legislative Agenda (Tobacco) • LD 1226, An Act To Prevent and Treat Cancer in Maine by Implementing Critical Portions of the Comprehensive Cancer Program—DEAD • Sponsored by Rep. Strang Burgess (R-Cumberland) • Equalized tax on ALL other tobacco products with tax on cigarettes. • Uses $4.5 mil over the biennium to fund portions of the State Cancer Plan.

  15. Legislative Agenda (FHM) • LD 1558, Resolve, To Study Allocations of the Fund for a Healthy Maine—Passed as amended, still in progress • Sponsored by Rep. Strang Burgess • Creates a legislative commission to determine if FHM meets current public health needs and to set up a review process. • LD 1224, An Act To Fund the Screening and Early Detection Elements of the Statewide Cancer Plan—on Appropriations Table • Sponsored by Rep. Strang Burgess • Passed as amended, stripping the FHM as the funding source but will most likely die as a result of $2 million General Fund fiscal impact.

  16. Fund for a Healthy Maine LD 1043, “The Budget” • The Governor’s original proposed biennial budget recommended cuts totaling 33.7% of the programmatic budget on top of expected reductions due to decrease in MSA payments. • -Proposed elimination of oral health, substance abuse, family planning • The Governor’s budget proposal also included an amendment to the FHM statutory language , removing the provision that FHM funds be used to “supplement, not supplant” General Fund expenditures. However, he eliminated this provision in his change package. • Some of the program cuts were restored with non-FHM $$ in the Governor’s change package.

  17. Fund for a Healthy Maine • After an intensive education and lobbying effort by the Friends of the Fund for a Healthy Maine, led by MPHA staff, the Legislature voted not to accept these cuts. • The Biennial budget now includes only a 2.4% cut to FHM programs and a 12.2% cut to the Fund overall. • Continued advocacy needed due to 10% now being funded through other sources.

  18. Resources • MPHA Policy: www.mainepublichealth.org/policy.php • Tobacco: www.mainepublichealth.org/tobacco.php • Obesity: www.mainepublichealth.org/obesity.php • Fund for a Healthy Maine materials available at www.slideshare.net/hppofme

  19. To be more successful, we need your voice! Join the Maine Public Health Association & pledge to help with policy efforts. www.mainepublichealth.org/join.php

More Related