To the Members of the California Senate:

I am signing Senate Bill 19, which will help to significantly improve the nutrition and eating habits of California’s school children. This bill establishes, as of January 1, 2004, various prohibitions on the sale of beverages in elementary and middle schools and places nutritional standards on the type of foods that may be sold to pupils during school breaks and through vending machines. The bill also increases the reimbursement a school receives for free and reduced-price meals and permits schools districts to convene a Child Nutrition and Physical Activity Advisory Committee. The bill appropriates $5.5 million for grants to local school districts to implement the new nutrition standards and for monitoring and technical assistance costs of the State Department of Education.

Childhood obesity has become an epidemic in the United States and is a primary factor in type 2 diabetes and other long-term health problems. While poor diet and physician inactivity have been found to adversely influence the ability to learn and decrease motivation and attentiveness, healthy food has a positive impact on academic achievement.

While I am supportive of the new standards contained in SB19, I am deleting the appropriation of $5.5 million in the bill because it is premature to allocate General Fund without first exploring the use of federal funds for this purpose. California does not currently use its full allotment of federal child nutrition funding that may be available to assist local districts in meeting the nutrition standards in this bill. Since the provisions of the bill are not intended to be operative for another two years, there is sufficient time to consider alternative funding options without jeopardizing timely implementation of the new standards.

Sincerely,

GRAY DAVIS