Senate Bill No. 663
(By Senators Foster and Wells)
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[Introduced February 22, 2010; referred to the Committee on
Health and Human Resources; and then to the Committee on
Finance.]
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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 Governor's Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle
Planning shall establish a Healthy Lifestyles Restaurant Calorie Posting Program. The program shall require covered food service
establishments as that term is defined in this section to post
caloric information at the point of purchase. 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 has greater
than fifteen locations nationally doing business under the same
trade name, regardless of the type of ownership of the individual
restaurant locations, 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 are 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 at the
point of purchase 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 applies 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 or for condiments and other items placed on a
table or counter for general use without charge.
(d) The Governor's Office of Health Enhancement and Lifestyle
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:
(1) 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. This post shall be at the point of purchase;
(2) A means of calculating calories content values using
analytic methods and express nutrient content based upon a
verifiable analysis of the menu item;
(3) Standardized formatting for food item tags including font
size and format. The size and typeface must be of equal prominence
to the price or name of the item;
(4) Specific drive-through window requirements including the
manner in which the caloric content of menu items must be displayed
at or near the drive-through menu board;
(5) Specific requirements for salad bars, buffet lines,
cafeteria services or other arrangement where food is on display
that provide caloric content per standard service per item next to
where the item is offered in a size and typeface that is prominent
and legible from where customers are choosing those items;
(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; and
(7) Anything additional the Governor's Office of Health
Enhancement and Lifestyle 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 Insurance 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 require
restaurants to participate in this program and will benefit from
the marketing of this program through state agencies.
§5-1E-6 is new; therefore, strike-throughs and underscoring
have been omitted.