AB575

CA Assemblymember Jerry Hill speaks at NANP conference lunch – part 2

June 2, 2012 By Trudy Scott 1 Comment

This is a continuation of the presentation given by CA Assemblymember Jerry Hill during the lunch at the NANP conference, where he mentioned a number of CA nutrition/legislative matters that are near and dear to the hearts of our members, and are encouraging for the health of all Californians.

In this article I’ll be sharing information about California Healthy Food Financing Initiative and school lunches, the award and the delicious menu. The “Let’s Get Healthy California Task Force”, labeling of GMOs and the tax credit for farmers who donate fruits and vegetables to food banks were covered in part 1.

(1) The introduction of the California Healthy Food Financing Initiative (AB 581) to expand access to healthy foods in underserved communities.

According to the author, AB 581 will increase access to healthy and nutritious foods to underserved urban and rural communities in California. Known as “food deserts,” regions of California without access to healthy food generally have a higher incidence of certain types of diseases such as diabetes, cancer, obesity, heart disease, and premature death.

You can read the whole bill here.

(2) First Lady Michelle Obama is championing the cause of improving the health of our children. The California Department of Education will work closely with school districts as they make school lunch improvements

“These new standards will help put more fresh fruits and vegetables in school lunches, which means healthier children in our classrooms,” State Schools Chief Tom Torlakson stated.

This is a great start and we do have a way to go as Congress wants to keep pizza and french fries on school lunch lines, fighting back against an Obama administration proposal to make school lunches healthier.

Assemblymember Jerry Hill wrapped up by saying “thank you for everything you are doing” and awarded an Assembly Certificate of Recognition to NANP:

I am pleased to recognize and commend the NANP for its advocacy on behalf of holistic nutrition professionals in support of their right to practice.

recognition from assemblyman jerry hill — Recognition from CA Assemblyman Jerry Hill

And then we all enjoyed a delicious organic locally sourced lunch that was free of gluten, corn, soy, canola, white or artificial sugars and included raw dairy and wild-caught fish. You can see all the menus here. Here is the lunch menu:

Tossed Arugula and Baby Spinach, Dried Figs, toasted Walnuts with Balsamic Vinaigrette (Dressing on the side)
Poached Salmon with Watercress Reduction
Brown Rice Lentil Pilaf
Braised Spinach with Extra Virgin Olive & Herbed Roma Tomato
Gluten-free Bread
Raw Butter
Seasonal Fruit with Fresh Whipped Cream
Vegetarian Option: Roasted Eggplant Stuffed with Mediterranean Vegetable Ragout with Quinoa Pilaf

May all Californians (and everyone everywhere) be healthy and happy and have the means to eat delicious and healthy food like this. Thanks Assemblymember Hill for joining us and doing your part!

[Note: I say “we” on behalf of NANP and the legislative committee, which I chair]

CA Assemblymember Jerry Hill speaks at NANP conference lunch – part 1

June 1, 2012 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

assemblyman-jerry-hill-at-lunch — Assemblyman Jerry Hill luncheon address at NANP conference

It was a real pleasure to have CA Assemblymember Jerry Hill (who represents the 19^th district) join us for lunch at the NANP conference. We had met him and invited him to join us during the recent CA lobby days. We are so pleased he joined us and we thoroughly enjoyed his wonderful presentation.

Assemblymember Hill started off by saying “You represent everything that is good” and endorsed the conference theme of Holistic Nutrition Through the Ages, saying “what you are doing is so important”.

Assemblymember Hill then went on to mention a number of CA nutrition/legislative matters that are near and dear to the hearts of our members, and are encouraging for the health of all Californians:

(1) On May 3, Gov. Jerry Brown drafted a “Let’s Get Healthy California Task Force” to develop a 10-year plan to improve Californians’ health and reduce health-care costs.

Preventable and chronic health conditions are detrimental to every Californian’s quality of life, cause disproportionate social and economic burdens, and result in California spending 80% of the state’s total healthcare dollars on just 20% of the population.

The NANP and our members can be a big part of this, distributing wellness and nutritional information and helping people make informed decisions about their own health.

(2) The labeling of GMOs was added to the CA ballot on May 2

In victory rallies across state today, supporters celebrated as the California Right to Know campaign filed 971,126 signatures for the state’s first-ever ballot initiative to require labeling of genetically engineered foods. The huge signature haul, gathered in a 10-week period, is nearly double the 555,236 signatures the campaign needs to qualify for the November ballot.

If passed this November, Californians will join citizens of over 40 countries including all of Europe, Japan and even China who have the right to know whether they are eating genetically engineered food.

You can read why we need this GMO labeling to ensure the safety of food for California families and children and that even chickens refuse GM corn (or mielies as its called in South Africa)

(3) California legislators enacted a tax credit for farmers who donate fruits and vegetables to food banks. Here is information on AB152 prior to the bill being passed: http://www.cafoodbanks.org/docs/AB%20152%20Full%20Factsheet.pdf

Every dollar in credit leverages approximately 10-20 pounds of fresh healthy food for low-income Californians. California growers want to do their part to help low-income Californians eat more fresh healthy food. California would be following the lead of several other states, including Arizona, Colorado, North Carolina, and Oregon that offer tax incentives to encourage fresh produce donations from growers to emergency food providers.

You can read this great post by Amy Winterfeld: what lawmakers in other states are doing to encourage better eating and support local economies.

Assemblymember Hill also shared information about California Healthy Food Financing Initiative and school lunches and this, together with the award and menu will be covered in part 2.

[Note: I say “we” on behalf of NANP and the legislative committee, which I chair]

California lobby days by NANP – follow up from CA AB575

March 5, 2012 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

The recent California lobby days were very successful and we feel we have made some great connections and started to build some excellent relationships. Nicole Hodson (NANP Executive Director), Julie Spero (President of NANP) and I went to the Capitol in Sacramento with lobbyist Randy Pollack. It was a whirl-wind tour of meetings over 2 days, with 16 women and men of the CA Assembly and Senate along with their staff members.

There is no new or pending legislation so it was a meet and greet. We met for about 15 minutes in each office and let them get to know what we as nutrition professionals do for our clients. Each of us talked about the health issues we work with and how we benefit our clients – demonstrating real world health issues being addressed through whole food nutrition. Nicole talked about the benefits of diet for ADHD, Julie about diabetes and diet and I spoke about the powerful impact diet has on anxiety and depression. Nicole also talked about the National Association of Nutrition Professionals / NANP and the board exam. Randy introduced the Alliance for Natural Health and other nutrition professionals, talked about AB575 (the CA bill introduced and defeated in 2011) and our concerns around the language that would prevent us from doing invaluable work for the people who need it most. We also made sure they understood that the majority of dietitians tend to work in institutional settings such as hospitals, prisons and schools, while nutritionists tend to serve the individual. We also talked about consumer choice.

Some highlights

We met with Mary Hayashi, the Assemblywoman who introduced AB575 in 2011. We believe her Republican counterparts on the committee were opposed to AB575 and that they also received negative pressure from the Nurses Association.
Assemblywoman Fiona Ma is a champion of many health causes like Hepatitis B and Diabetes. She has invited us to attend an upcoming ‘Women in Government’ event and is interested in using us as a resource for health related speakers and articles. We have invited her to our annual NANP conference, along with Assemblyman Jerry Hill, whose district includes the city of Millbrae where our conference will be held
We met with Jazmin Hicks, a senate fellow in Senator Vargus’ office who authored a paper on “Policy on preventative health rather than palliative health”
We met Assemblywoman Butler who banned BPA in bay bottles
Senator Emerson’s office is reviewing a gluten-free bill for the department of public health and we had a long discussion with staff members while waiting for our meeting
We had some healthy (no pun intended!) discussions with various well-read and informed legislators and staff members about the importance of breakfast, gluten intolerance, the effects of diet on rheumatoid arthritis, the connection between gluten and autism, diet and ADHD and horrible hospital food

We very much appreciate the support of ANH and the fact that they hired a lobbyist. All in all an excellent and informative two days!

AB575: Protect Your Right to Health Care and Work!

April 22, 2011 By Trudy Scott 22 Comments

**** 5/4 UPDATE: SUCCESS! AB575 was pulled. We heard from the office late on Monday that it would not be heard Tuesday May 3 but since we didn’t have anything official, we showed up at the hearing anyway. It was not heard. This was due to overwhelming opposition to the bill so a big thank you to everyone. I’ll be posting more information in the next few days, weeks and months – this is just the start but now we will have time to educate the legislators on why this is a bad bill.

**** 4/29 UPDATE: BAD NEWS based on calls to Hyashi’s office, AB 575 will be on the docket for next Tuesday May 3 – WITH NO CHANGES – even though they know it’s flawed and that many people oppose it.

Martin Mathews and I learned that Hayashi is planning to introduce the bill as is – that she just needs 4 of the other 8 members of the committee she chairs, give a YES vote to AB575. Apparently, she’ll explain how the bill is flawed, that it will be fixed later (with yet-to-be-determined changes) and ask them to vote yes on it now anyway! We are figuring out next steps. Right now we know there will be a local presence to oppose this again. Please use #StpAB575 in twitter to follow and share.

**** 4/26 UPDATE: SUCCESS …for now! The bill was pulled from discussion due to overwhelming opposition! Details of next steps will be posted shortly. We’ll know Thursday if there will be another hearing Tues May 3. If it doesn’t make the May 3 date it won’t be heard for another year. WELL DONE EVERYONE! *****

4/22: The CA Assembly bill AB 575 will affect your right to access highly qualified nutritional therapists of your choice (if you are a consumer in California) and will also prohibit you from providing valuable nutritional therapy (if you are a nutrition professional in California). It will be heard before Assembly Committee on Business, Professions and Consumer Protections on Tuesday April 26^th, 2011 in Sacramento, CA. This bill is being introduced by the CDA (California Dietetics Association) and Under this bill nutritionists must become licensed dietitians in order to practice! This would create a monopoly for RD’s as clinical nutrition providers.

This is a very hot topic that has been playing out in many states and I encourage you to take action RIGHT AWAY so you don’t lose your freedom of choice and/or your right to work!

Here are some resources for you to learn more:

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The Bill

Here is proposed bill itself

Summary

It’s pretty heavy reading so here is a nice summary of what the bill actually means – from the Alliance for Natural Health

Interview with ANH and Ed Bauman

Martin Mathews of www.nourishinghope.org interviewed Nandini (Alliance for Natural Health www.anh-usa.org) and Dr Ed Bauman (Bauman College www.baumancollege.org) on Reality Sandwich on Thursday and you can listen to this 15 minute interview here.

Interview with Coco Newton and Liz Lipski

And a few weeks ago I interviewed Coco Newton, RD, CCN and Liz Lipski PhD, CCN on a preview call promoting our annual NANP (www.nanp.org) conference April 31, May 1. You can listen to this 30 minute interview here. Coco’s topic will address similar issues the nutrition professionals have experienced in Michigan. Coco is very active in the Michigan Nutrition Association and they have very useful information on their site (http://www.michigannutritionassociation.org/)

Latest newsletter from Alliance for Natural Health (www.anh-usa.org):

“California Assembly Bill 575 creates a monopoly on nutrition services for dietitians, in effect denying consumers access to expert advice from nutritionists, some of the most highly educated and well-respected professionals in the field of nutrition. Presented as a regular licensing bill for dietitians this bill actually limits the practice of other nutrition professionals. Under this bill nutritionists must go through the dietetic program and licensure in order to practice medical nutrition therapy.

The American Dietetic Association (ADA) has sponsored legislation in over 40 states. This is the organization that lists among its corporate sponsors soft drink giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo, cereal manufacturers General Mills and Kellogg’s, candy maker Mars, and Unilever, the multinational corporation that owns many of the world’s consumer products brands in foods and beverages.

The negative implications of AB 575 are far reaching.

Bad for an already struggling California economy. This bill would effectively eliminate an entire profession and removes all competition in the field of nutrition services.
Dampens freedom of choice in healthcare: Nutritionists and dietitians have entirely different philosophical approaches. Each individual has unique nutritional needs and therefore deserve access to choice. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach.
Threatens to increase chronic health indicators among Californians: Nutritionists practice an integrative approach to medicine and concentrate on prevention and treatment of chronic disease. Access to nutritionists should be broadened, not reduced.
Penalizes a higher standard of education and training: For example, Certified Nutrition Specialists certified by the Certification Board for Nutrition Specialists (CBNS) have a Master’s degree at a minimum, usually a Ph.D., yet are excluded by this bill unless they meet the requirements of dietitians.”

IF YOU ARE A CALIFORNIA RESIDENT – WHAT YOU CAN DO NOW

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If you are a California resident there are a number of things you can do – I’ve outlined these steps below. Please take action before Tuesday next week if you feel this is something you feel strongly about!

(1) Alliance for Natural Health has a page that will generate a letter for you to automatically send to

* Your Governor
* Your State Senator or Senators
* Your State Representative or Representatives
* All the committee members

Just enter your name, address and modify the sample text letter as you see fit .

****** SEND YOUR LETTER TO THE LEGISLATORS BELOW ********
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Go here to create and send this letter.

(2) Call and email the Committee members and tell them what you think. Calling is often more effective than emailing!

It’s also very effective to write your own personal letter expressing how you feel. Make sure to send this to all the committee members (see below) AND your own representative (if he/she is not on the committee).

Committee Members

Mary Hayashi – Chair, Dem-18
(916) 319-2018
Assemblymember.Hayashi@assembly.ca.gov
Letters can be faxed here: (916) 319-2118

Bill Berryhill – Vice Chair, Rep-26
(916) 319-2026
Assemblymember.Bill.Berryhill@assembly.ca.gov

Michael Allen, Dem-7
(916) 319-2007
Assemblymember.Allen@assembly.ca.gov

Betsy Butler, Dem-53
(916) 319-2053
Assemblymember.Butler@assembly.ca.gov

Mike Eng, Dem-49
(916) 319-2049
Assemblymember.Eng@assembly.ca.gov

Curt Hagman, Rep-60
(916) 319-2060
Assemblymember.Hagman@assembly.ca.gov

Jerry Hill, Dem-19
(916) 319-2019
Assemblymember.Hill@assembly.ca.gov

Fiona Ma, Dem-12
(916) 319-2012
Assemblymember.Ma@assembly.ca.gov

Cameron Smyth, Rep-38
(916) 319-2038
Assemblymember.Smyth@assembly.ca.gov

(3) Please share this information with family, colleagues and clients, post on social media, blog about it and add it to your ezines

(4) Myself and five or six other nutrition professionals will be attending the hearing on Tuesday – if you would like to come and show your support please email me and/or show up. I live near Sacramento and I am coordinating the local effort. At this time the hearing will be between 9am and 12:30pm and everyone present will be able to state their opinion. We don’t yet know how much more each of us can say. Location: CAPITAL BUILDING – Old side (renovated side) 4th floor, Room 447.

(5) Consider volunteering your time, either now or in the coming weeks and months – this issue won’t be going away any time soon and we could do with the help of folks with any legal experience and/or organizing experience

(6) Consider joining the Alliance for Natural Health http://www.anh-usa.org, an organization dedicated to promoting sustainable health and freedom of choice in healthcare through good science and good law. They protect the right of natural-health practitioners to practice and the right of consumers to choose the healthcare options they prefer. Membership is just $25 a year

(7) If you are reading this and are a nutrition professional and are not yet a member of the NANP – National Association of Nutrition Professionals (www.nanp.org), consider joining NANP so together we can stay informed and serve as nutrition professionals. I’m a long-standing member and currently serve as President. It’s a great organization with amazing benefits!

(8) Finally we’d love to see you at our annual NANP conference next weekend April 31/May 1 in San Francisco. Coco Newton, RD, CCN will be one of the great presenters and her topic will address similar issues the nutrition professionals have experienced in Michigan. Register here.

If you are not a California resident

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If you are not a California resident I encourage keep informed as this has happened in other states and may come to your state next. Your best bet is to join the Alliance for Natural Health http://www.anh-usa.org which is part of an international organization dedicated to promoting sustainable health and freedom of choice in healthcare through good science and good law. They protect the right of natural-health practitioners to practice and the right of consumers to choose the healthcare options they prefer. Membership is just $25 a year!

Wrapping up and thanks!

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I’ve spent the last few days reading, learning, listening and talking to amazingly supportive people all over the country so we can stop this bill in it’s tracks. Organizations, schools, practitioners and consumers are coming together to make this happen. I’m blown away by all the support and assistance! And would like to acknowledge the following people/groups: the NANP board members and staff (www.nanp.org), Ed Bauman PhD (www.baumancollege.org), Martin Mathews (www.nourishinghope.org), Nandini Gopinadh and Gretchen DuBeau (www.anh-usa.org), Dr David Brady (http://www.bridgeport.edu) Dr Anna Kelles PhD (www.nycc.edu), Donna Kelley MS, Krysti Hyllen, JJ Virgin CNS, CHFI, Lisa Bryant NE, Michael Stroka, Judy Stone, Corinne Bush MS, CNS, Dana Reed, MS, CNS (www.reednutrition.com) and all the other concerned people and groups too many to mention! Thank you so much!

And to you as the reader, if you’ve got this far – thank for supporting me and everyone in the effort and for believing in the value of nutrition the amazing power of food and nutrients!