S. 39: Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention America Act

Introduced:
Jan 22, 2013 (113th Congress, 2013–2015)
Sponsor:
Sen. Thomas “Tom” Harkin [D-IA]
Status:
Referred to Committee

The bill’s title was written by the bill’s sponsor. S. stands for Senate bill.

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Status

This bill was assigned to a congressional committee on January 22, 2013, which will consider it before possibly sending it on to the House or Senate as a whole.

Progress
Introduced Jan 22, 2013
Referred to Committee Jan 22, 2013
Reported by Committee ...
Passed Senate ...
Passed House ...
Signed by the President ...
Prognosis

0% chance of getting past committee.
0% chance of being enacted.

Only 12% of Senate bills made it past committee and only 2% were enacted in 2011–2013. [show factors | methodology]

Cosponsors
none
Committees

Senate Finance

The committee chair determines whether a bill will move past the committee stage.

Full Title

A bill to improve the health of Americans and reduce health care costs by reorienting the Nation's health care system toward prevention, wellness, and health promotion.

Summary

No summaries available.

Text

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Last updated Jan 22, 2013.
110 pages

Primary Source

View on THOMAS (The Library of Congress)

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Citation

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GovTrack’s Bill Summary

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Library of Congress Summary

The summary below was written by the Congressional Research Service, which is a nonpartisan division of the Library of Congress.

1/22/2013--Introduced.
Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention America Act or HeLP America Act - Amends the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 1990, the Richard B. Russell National School Lunch Act, the Public Health Service Act, and other specified health law to establish or expand programs for children's nutrition and physical activity in schools and with child care providers, expanding the free fresh fruit program, promoting equal opportunities for students with disabilities to participate in schools and colleges, revising the definition of "core academic subject" to include physical education, and including the promotion of healthy, active lifestyles by students within educational grant programs.Sets forth requirements to expand healthy activities in the community, permitting use of schools for recreational and nutritional purposes during nonschool hours, awarding grants for sports and athletic programs for individuals with disabilities, awarding grants to establish community gardens, requiring physical activity guidelines for the general public, and promoting healthy foods and physical activity at national parks.
Amends the Internal Revenue Code to increase the excise tax on tobacco products.
Establishes a program to assist federal departments and agencies in integrating health goals into their activities.
Addresses workplace wellness, allowing a wellness program credit for employers, excluding from an employee's income the fees paid by an employer to an athletic or fitness facility on the employee's behalf, and promoting breastfeeding among working mothers.
Establishes requirements for federal buildings, including those for:
(1) application of menu labeling requirements to food establishments and nutritional standards for food provided in such buildings,
(2) prompts encouraging individuals to use stairs, and
(3) installation of bicycle storage areas.
Sets forth requirements to reduce the sodium content of processed food and restaurant food, expand nutritional labeling requirements, establish a front-label food guidance system, and strengthen health literacy.Disallows a deduction for expenses relating to advertising or marketing of any tobacco product.
Authorizes the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to impose an industry-wide penalty on manufacturers of cigarettes for failure to achieve youth tobacco use reduction goals.
Expands coverage of preventive services through title XIX (Medicaid) of the Social Security Act and the Federal Employees Health Benefits program.
Establishes a training program for health professionals related to the prevention, identification, and treatment of overweight patients, obesity, and eating disorders.
Requires the Secretary to:
(1) award grants for training in integrative medicine,
(2) establish a national consortium on breastfeeding research, and
(3) implement public health monitoring measures to address mental health and substance use disorders.

House Republican Conference Summary

The summary below was written by the House Republican Conference, which is the caucus of Republicans in the House of Representatives.

No summary available.

House Democratic Caucus Summary

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The bill contains the following citations to other parts of U.S. law:

Slip Laws

Slip laws refer to enacted bills and joint resolutions in their original form as enacted by Congress, that is, before other laws amend them. Slip laws are cited as “Public Law XXX-YYY”, where XXX is the number of the Congress in which the bill or resolution was introduced.

United States Code

The United States Code is the compilation of permanent laws enacted by Congress. Temporary and other non-permanent laws do not appear in the United States Code. (About half of the United States Code is the law itself, called positive law. The other half is merely a compilation of the laws but has no legal significance.)

Statutes at Large

The United States Statutes at Large is the compilation of all laws enacted by Congress.

  • 48 Stat. 998
  • 122 Stat. 2109

Other Citations

  • 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35