Healthy Communities Act of 2009
Latest action. Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (continuing resolutionA stopgap law funding the government at existing levels when the annual appropriations bills are not done by October 1.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) H8106)
Healthy Communities Act of 2009 - Amends the Public Health Service Act to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make five-year grants to community partnerships for programs to combat obesity. Sets forth eligibility requirements. Provides for an executive council and a steering committee.
Requires a community obesity prevention program to address all the different components of fighting obesity and to include: (1) physical exercise and a physical activity environment; (2) nutritional counseling and nutritional environment activities; (3) education to provide to the community information about the importance of eating healthily and maintaining a balanced diet and of being physically fit and to provide strategies for addressing varying individual capabilities to attain physical fitness; and (4) an evidence-based curriculum using the National Institutes of Health's (NIH's) Ways to Enhance Children's Activity and Nutrition (We Can) program and curriculum to guide the program.
Requires a program to: (1) make use of evidence-based practices, strategies, programs, and policies in designing program guidelines; (2) develop a communications plan that involves the entire community; (3) have both in-school and workplace wellness programs; and (4) identify a Wellness Coordinator. Requires the executive council and the steering committee to: (1) perform an assessment of the obesity problem in each respective community; and (2) work with the Wellness Coordinator to lay out achievable short- and long-term goals for reducing childhood obesity.
Directs the Secretary to: (1) prohibit a community partnership from using the grant to pay for administrative expenses, with exceptions; and (2) give preference in selecting grant recipients to communities with high levels of obesity and related chronic diseases.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on July 9, 2009. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H8106)
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The record's latest action, on July 15, 2009: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H8106)
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In the 111th Congress (2009-10), 383 of the 10,778 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.6 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one has no outstanding steps listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Kathleen Dahlkemper (D-PA) introduced it on July 9, 2009, and 11 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 8 Democrats, 3 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on July 9, 2009, 6272 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 6266 days ago, on July 15, 2009.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 111th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2011 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseSponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR H8106)
- SenateNot stated in the latest action
- PresidentNot stated in the latest action