BILL ANALYSIS �
SCR 47
Page 1
Date of Hearing: April 25, 2012
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
Felipe Fuentes, Chair
SCR 47 (DeSaulnier) - As Introduced: June 11, 2011
Policy Committee: HealthVote:13-6
Urgency: No State Mandated Local Program:
No Reimbursable: No
SUMMARY
This resolution makes various declarations on how health and
well-being is influenced by policies in a number of areas beyond
just health policy, and resolves that the Legislature:
1) Request that the Strategic Growth Council and the member
agencies, departments, and offices of the Health in All
Policies Task Force provide leadership on implementing the
recommendations put forth in the Health in All Policies
Task Force Report.
2) Encourage interdepartmental collaboration with an
emphasis on the complex environmental factors that
contribute to poor health and inequities when developing
policies in a wide variety of areas.
3) Consider both short- and long-term health impacts,
costs, and benefits, where appropriate, when weighing the
merits of proposed legislation.
4) Encourages public officials in all sectors and levels of
government to recognize that health is influenced by
policies related to air and water quality, natural
resources and agricultural land, affordable housing,
infrastructure systems, public health, sustainable
communities, and climate change, and to consider health
when formulating policy.
FISCAL EFFECT
Although not binding, this measure creates cost pressure on
state agencies and the Legislature to pursue activities related
SCR 47
Page 2
to consideration of health impacts in policymaking. In most
cases, these activities would go beyond current practice. For
example, this resolution could increase pressure on state
departments to consider health impacts of proposed regulations,
or on legislative staff to analyze public health impacts of
legislation in many different policy areas. These activities
are generally not conducted under current law and practice. If
these activities were conducted consistent with the author's
intent, it could result in state costs well in excess of
$150,000 annually.
COMMENTS
1)Rationale . The author states that government entities often
create policy without considering the broad-spectrum,
long-term health outcomes associated with these policies. He
indicates that transportation, housing, development, public
safety, and education are just a few areas where policy
decisions can have major health repercussions at the local
level. This resolution calls on state departments and
agencies to work together to address barriers to good health
in California's communities. It encourages leadership related
to Health in All Policies (HiAP), so that public officials in
all levels of government and across all departments will
consider health outcomes when enacting policy. This measure
is sponsored by the Health Officers Association of California
(HOAC), a group made up of health officers of each county in
the state.
2)Background . California's HiAP Task Force was established in
2010 by executive order. The Task Force is a multi-agency
effort to improve state policy and decision-making by
encouraging collaborative work towards health and
sustainability goals by incorporating health considerations
into non-health policy areas. According to a report released
by the Task Force, the health of California's population is
largely determined by the physical, social, economic, and
service environments in which we live, learn, work, and play.
These environmental impacts on health are collectively
referred to as the "social determinants of health." Chronic
disease, often caused or exacerbated by these social
determinants, accounts for most deaths and the majority of
medical care spending. Research has shown that efforts to
change health behaviors are most effective when they address
the environments in which people make their daily choices, and
SCR 47
Page 3
these environments are shaped by policy in a number of
non-health policy areas such as transportation. A seminal
paper from the influential Institute of Medicine on the social
determinants of health states, "It is unreasonable to expect
that people will change their behavior easily when so many
forces in the social, cultural, and physical environment
conspire against such change."
3)Related Legislation . AB 441 (Monning) requires the California
Transportation Commission (CTC) to include voluntary health
issues in guidelines promulgated by CTC for the preparation of
regional transportation plans. AB 441 is pending in the Senate
Transportation and Housing Committee.
Analysis Prepared by : Lisa Murawski / APPR. / (916) 319-2081