Report Title:

Education; Vending Machines

Description:

Requires food and drink items in public school vending machines to comply with the nutritional standards established by the board of education and provides minimum standards for food and drink items sold in vending machines.

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.B. NO.

1890

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

RELATING TO PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The legislature finds that recent studies have shown that the percentage of obese children in Hawaii has doubled in the past ten years. Studies have also shown that overweight kids tend to lead sedentary lifestyles, develop low self-esteem and psychological stress, and lack the necessary drive and motivation required to excel in lower, as well as higher, education.

The two leading causes of obesity in children are a lack of physical activity and poor eating habits. Poor nutrition and physical inactivity account for more preventable deaths than anything other than tobacco and AIDS. Approximately three hundred thousand deaths in this country are associated with obesity. This is due in large part, to our "junk-food" and "super-sized" American culture that promotes over-eating and the consumption of inordinate amounts of sugar and fat.

Carbonated drinks are the single largest source of refined sugars in the American diet and seventy per cent of elementary school-aged children exceed the current dietary recommendations for total and saturated fat intake. Each daily serving of sugar-sweetened soda increases a child's risk for obesity by sixty per cent.

One way of addressing the problem of poor dietary habits in school-aged children is to more strictly regulate the kind of food items sold in vending machines located in public schools. Currently, the nutritional standards maintained by the department of education for the school lunch program do not apply to food items sold in public school vending machines. This Act will ensure that all food and drink items sold in public school vending machines are nutritionally acceptable to promote a healthier diet and lifestyle for public school children.

SECTION 2. Chapter 302A, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§302A- Vending machines on school property. (a) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, no vending machine that dispenses food or drink items shall be operated on any public school property unless the food or drink items comply with the nutritional standards established by the board under section 302A-404; provided that, unless otherwise required under a stricter rule adopted by the board, only the following food and drink items may be sold from vending machines:

(1) Food items, not including nuts or seeds, whose calories attributable to fat are not more than thirty-five per cent of the item's total caloric content;

(2) Food items whose calories attributable to saturated fat content are not more than ten per cent of the item's total caloric content;

(3) Food items, not including fruits or vegetables, whose sugar content is not more than thirty-five per cent of the item's total weight;

(4) Fruit-based drink items that are composed of not less than fifty per cent fruit juice and have no added sweeteners;

(5) Drinking water;

(6) Milk, including, but not limited to, chocolate milk, soy milk, rice milk, and other similar dairy or nondairy milk;

(7) Electrolyte replacement drinks that contain not more than forty-two grams of added sweetener per twenty-ounce serving; and

(8) Any food or drink item approved by the board by rule.

(c) For the purposes of this section, "added sweetener" means any additive that enhances the sweetness of the beverage, including, but not limited to, added sugar, but does not include the natural sugar or sugars that are contained within a fruit juice that is a component of the beverage."

SECTION 3. Section 302A-404, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-404[]] School lunches[.]; vending machines, nutritional standards. (a) School lunches shall be made available under the school lunch program in every school where the students are required to eat lunch at school.

(b) The board shall adopt rules, pursuant to chapter 91, to establish minimum nutritional standards for food available in vending machines operated on any public school property."

SECTION 4. Section 302A-412, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Each secondary public school, upon the approval of the principal and the complex area superintendent, may allow on the premises vending machines operated as a concession; provided that the concession shall be operated only by a blind or visually handicapped person, as defined in sections 235-1, 347-1, and 347-2. The location and operation of the vending machines [and the items dispensed] shall be approved by the department[.]; provided that the food and drink items dispensed by the vending machines shall meet the requirements of section 302A-   ."

SECTION 5. Section 302A-1146, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"[[]§302A-1146[]] Schools not to sell merchandise, etc. It shall be unlawful for any public school, without the written permission of the department, to operate stores or to sell merchandise, with the following exceptions: school lunches, milk, [ice cream, candy,] things made or grown at the school as part of the educational program, or any food or drink item dispensed by vending machines pursuant to section 302A- , and in cases where classroom efficiency, uniformity, or standardization of particular supplies is essential, textbooks, equipment, and necessary school supplies and equipment, may be sold by any school. The department, with the advice of the comptroller, shall adopt rules in conformance with chapter 91 necessary for the purposes of this section."

SECTION 6. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 7. This Act shall take effect upon its approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________