Last Updated: February 26th 2010, 111th Congress
 

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BILL

Complete Streets Act of 2009, S. 584/H.R. 1443

This bill ensures that pedestrians, bicyclists, transit users, children, older individuals, and individuals with disabilities can travel safely and conveniently on federally funded streets and highways; the bill would provide opportunities for physical activity.    

FIT Kids Act, S. 634/H.R. 1585

The bill would amend and improve standards for physical education,  weekly physical activity requirements would increase to 150 min for elementary student, and 225 min for middle/high schoolers; it would promote physical education and activity programs in schools through competitive grants; encourage professional development for teachers and principals directly related to the fields of physical education and health education; funding would also be provided to the National Academy of Sciences to, among other things, study and provide recommendations to decrease obesity.

Improved Nutrition and Physical Activity Act- IMPACT Act, S. 1503

This legislation would amend the Public Health Service Act to establish grants to primary care physicians and other health professionals on how to identify, refer or treat, and prevent obesity, overweight and eating disorders. The grants, awarded by HHS Secretary will: provide $10 million to conduct educational conferences on the treatment and prevention of obesity, eating disorders, and overweight individuals; provide $60 million to implement programs that promote healthy eating behaviors, physical activity, emotional wellness and healthy living targeted toward at-risk populations and administered by state and local authorities and community-based organizations. One year after the date of enactment, the HHS Secretary would be required to submit to the HELP and Energy and Commerce Committees a report on causes and health implications of being overweight, obesity, and eating disorders.   

Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans Act of 2009, S. 1810/H.R. 3851

The bill would  require the Secretary of HHS to publish a report that contains physical activity information and guidelines for the general public that are based on current scientific and medical knowledge. Requires any federal agency that proposes to issue any physical activity guidance for the general population or identified subgroups to submit the text of such guidance to the Secretary for review.    

Physical Education to Create a Healthier Nation Act, H.R. 4557

The bill would amend the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 to ensure that schools have physical education programs that meet minimum requirements for physical education. Each local agency receiving assistance would need to ensure all elementary students have 150 minutes of physical education/week, and high school students receive 225 minutes of physical education/week.

Safe Routes to School Program Reauthorization Act, S. 1156

The bill would amend SAFETEA-LU to reauthorize and improve the Safe Routes to School Program; funds would be allocated to the State Department of Transportation. Eligible projects and activities include: planning, design, and construction of infrastructure-related projects that would ‘substantially’ improve students’ ability to walk or bicycle to school; infrastructure improvements to create safe routes to bus stops; public awareness campaigns; traffic, bicycle, and pedestrian safety education at schools; and funding for training, volunteers, and managers of safe routes to school programs. Non-infrastructure spending must account for 10-30% of total funds. States must distribute funds equitably between urban, rural, and suburban schools and must form advisory committees that include nonprofits, cities, schools and other relevant stakeholders. The Secretary of Transportation would provide grants to a national nonprofit that is active in the SRTS initiative; establish a permanent task force of health, transportation, and education leaders to compile recommendations; implement an evaluation plan that includes: collaboration with the CDC, EPA, and DoE to measure SRTS effectiveness, collection of standardized data, evaluation of data, and issuance of best practices.

Stop Obesity in Schools Act of 2009, H.R. 2044

The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services in conjunction with State and local governments, Federal agencies, health care providers, school districts, and the private sector to develop a national strategy to reduce childhood obesity. The strategy would reduce obesity rates by 10 percent by 2013. Grants would be offered on a competitive basis to State governments and districts to adopt wellness policies and anti-obesity initiatives and create healthy living and wellness coordinating councils to implement state-based or region-wide activities to reduce childhood obesity.