COMMITTEE SUBSTITUTE
FOR
Senate Bill No. 632
(By Senators Foster, Stollings, Jenkins and Prezioso)
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[Originating in the Committee on Health and Human Resources;
reported February 15, 2008.]
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A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §5-1E-6, relating to
the Healthy West Virginia Program; initiating the Healthy
Lifestyles Restaurant Calorie Posting Program; and providing
for legislative rule-making authority.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §5-1E-6, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 1E. HEALTHY WEST VIRGINIA PROGRAM.
§5-1E-6. Restaurant calorie posting program.
(a) The Office of Health Lifestyles shall establish a Healthy
Lifestyles Restaurant Calorie Posting Program. The program shall
allow voluntary participation by covered food service
establishments as that term is defined in this section. The program shall be designed to address the problems affecting
overweight and obese individuals, and encourage and promote healthy
lifestyles.
(b) As used in this section the following words and phrases
have the following meanings:
(1) "Covered food service establishment" means a food service
establishment doing business in West Virginia and that is also
doing business nationally, offering for sale substantially similar
menu items, in servings that are standardized for portion size and
content and that operate under common ownership or control, or as
franchised outlets of a parent business, or do business under the
same name.
(2) "Menu" means a printed list or pictorial display of a food
item or items, and their price or prices that is available for sale
from a covered food service establishment and shall include menus
distributed or provided outside of the establishment.
(3) "Menu board" means any list or pictorial display of a food
item or items and their price or prices, visibly posted within a
covered food service establishment or outside of a covered food
service establishment for the purpose of ordering from a
drive-through window.
(4) "Menu item" means any individual food item, or combination
of food items, listed or displayed on a menu board or menu that
are sold by a covered food service establishment.
(5) "Food item tag" means a label or tag that identifies any
food item displayed for sale at a covered food service establishment.
(c) This section shall apply to menu items served in portions
the size and content of which are standardized at a covered food
service establishment. This section does not apply to menu items
that are listed on a menu or menu board for less than thirty days
in a calendar year.
(d) The Office of Healthy Lifestyles shall propose rules for
legislative approval in accordance with the provisions of article
three, chapter twenty-nine-a of this code to effectuate the
provisions of this section. These rules shall provide for:
(1) A procedure for gaining recognition as a participant in
the Healthy Lifestyles Restaurant Calorie Posting Program which
would includes the applicant providing a complete menu analysis to
the Office of Healthy Lifestyles;
(2) The posting of calorie information for menu items that
bear the total number of calories derived from any source for each
menu item they list;
(3) A means of calculating calories content values (in kcal)
based upon a verifiable analysis of the menu item;
(4) Standardize formatting for food item tags including font
size and format;
(5) Specific drive-through windows requirements including the
manner in which the caloric content of menu items must be displayed
at or near the drive-through menu board;
(6) A means to account for the range of calorie content values
for different flavors, varieties and food item combinations listed as a single menu item;
(7) Establish a universally recognizable logo to be displayed
by a participating covered food service establishment showing
participation in the program; and
(8) Anything additional the Office of Health Lifestyles finds
necessary to effectuate the provisions of this section.
(e) Once the program begins operation, marketing shall take
place through all state agencies. The West Virginia Public
Employees Insurance Agency, the Bureau for Medical Services and the
West Virginia Workers' Compensation Commission must aggressively
market this program to their members for the purposes of health
promotion among their members.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to initiate the Healthy
Lifestyles Restaurant Calorie Posting Program, to encourage
restaurants to voluntarily participate in this program and to
provide that any restaurant participating in and advancing this
program will be issued a universally recognized logo, suitable for
public display by the business, and will benefit from the marketing
of this program through all state agencies, as described in
subdivision (e) of this section.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.