Current Legislative Priorities

Our current legislative priorities are to pass Senator Lugar’s Heath Promotion FIRST Act (S.866) and Senator Harkin’s Healthy Workforce Act (part of S.1754). We worked with both Senators to help develop the contents of these bills. We also support the Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) Act introduced by Congressman Jerry Weller.

Health Promotion FIRST (Funding Integrated Research, Synthesis and Training)

Health Promotion FIRST (S.866) was introduced by Senators Richard Lugar (R-IN) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) March 13, 2007. It was also introduced in the House of Representatives on April 17, 2008 by and Representative Jan Schkowsky (D-IL) as H.R.5835. It provides a strategy to integrate health promotion concepts into many areas of national policy through strategic planning efforts with each department of the federal government. It also solidifies the health promotion science base through programs at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Specific provisions include:

1. A health promotion research agenda at NIH.
   
   
2. Increasing the number of Prevention Research Centers (PRC's) to 80, preserving at least 30 PRC's for schools of public health and departments of preventive medicine but making any qualified organization eligible for the remaining 50, and doubling the annual funding of each PRC.
   
   
3. Expanding CDC's efforts to support workplace health promotion.

For your convenience we have provided a fact sheet on the bill and a link to the actual legislation. Also, please refer to an editorial by Michael O’Donnell on Health Promotion FIRST.

Healthy Workforce Act

The Healthy Workforce Act was introduced in the Senate by Senators Tom Harkin (D-IA) and Gordon Smith (R-OR) on July 9, 2007, with one section (S1753) for the Finance Committee and another section (S1754) for the HELP Committee. The bill was also introduced in the House of Representatives as H.R.3717 by Tom Udall (D-MN-3) and Mary Bono-Mack (R-CA-45) on October 2, 2007. A link for the House bill is provided here for your convienance.  The Healthy Workforce Act provides a tax credit for 50% of the cost of a qualified employer health promotion program, up to $200/employee for the first 200 employees and $100/employee for remaining employees. The credit is conveyed through income tax credit with for profit employers and through payroll tax with tax exempt employers. It also instructs CDC to develop an outreach program to make employers aware of the tax credit, and to educate employers on how to develop effective programs and how to measure success; to contract with experts who will evaluate the outcomes of some employers based health promotion programs and to train some employers how to conduct program evaluations. It also instructs CDC to conduct an annual national study on employer based health promotion programs and policies and to prepare an annual report on effective program implementation strategies. Finally, CDC is instructed to expand the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) to include a workforce component, and to award grants to support research demonstration projects on the effects of new models in public and private sectors and among small and large employers. 

 For you convenience, we have provided a  fact sheet on the bill and an editorial by Michael O’Donnell on the Healthy Workforce Act.

Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT)

The Personal Health Investment Today (PHIT) (HR245 Act was introduced by Representative Jerry Weller (R-IL) on January 5, 2007. It would allow up to $1,000 a year from pre-tax Health Savings Accounts or Flexible Spending Accounts to pay for exercise programs, gym memberships, fitness equipment and sports-league fees for kids and adults. The bill, which was introduced this year by Congressman Jerry Weller (R-IL), has been referred to the House Committee on Ways and Means for hearings. For your convenience we have provided a link to the actual legislation and for an editorial on the bill by Michael O’Donnell.

Criteria for Selecting Legislative Priorities

1. Contributes to our mission and vision.
2. Can attract resources necessary to be passed.
3. The process of advocating for the legislation makes us smarter and stronger.