AMCNO Applauds Passage of the Healthy Choices for Healthy Children (HCHC) Legislation in the Ohio Senate

The HCHC legislation has passed the Ohio Senate by a vote of 24-7 (Cates, Faber, Buehrer, Stewart, Grendell, Gibbs, Hughes). With the support of the other three cosponsors, Senator Coughlin offered an amendment that does the following:

allows districts to apply for a waiver from the BMI screening provision due to financial hardship; and

requires the local report cards to indicate whether the school district or building is complying with the physical activity and BMI provisions or operating under a waiver.

The Healthy Choices for Healthy Children legislation will make Ohio a national leader in addressing childhood obesity by comprehensively addressing childhood obesity through a three-pronged approach in a setting where we know we can have an immediate impact – Ohio schools by raising the bar to ensure children have access to nutritious foods in the school setting, building physical activity into the daily school routine and focusing on the importance of quality physical education to children leading healthy lifestyles, providing quality physical education to all Ohio students.

The AMCNO strongly supports this legislation and we are grateful that the sponsors and other members of the Senate were willing to work through the issues and arrive at a compromise that allowed the bill to move forward. The bill now moves over the House Health committee.