NEHA NEWS
As the summer came to a close, we recruited our first-ever fall cohort with the participation of 10 students and environmental public health departments from across the country. Within this cohort, two interns were able to participate in fully in-person expe- riences—our first since the program went virtual in 2020. In 2022 we enhanced many oerings for the interns, including the oppor- tunity to participate in the NEHA Annual Educational Conference & Exhibition, a professional development workshop hosted by us, and career mentorship sessions with experienced environmental health professionals working at STLT health departments. As we further develop the program, we will continue to bring together dedicated environmental health students and health departments. More information about the program is available at www.neha.org/nephip. NEPHIP is supported through a cooperative agreement with CDC (CDC-RFA-OT18-1802). References Gerding, J.A., Landeen, E., Kelly, K., Whitehead, S., Dyjack, D.T., Sarisky, J., & Brooks, B. (2019). Uncovering environ- mental health: An initial assessment of the profession’s health department workforce and practice. Journal of Environmental Health , 81 (10), 24–33. https://www.neha.org/Images/resources/ JEH6.19-Feature-Uncovering-EH.pdf National Association of County and City Health O¢cials. (2020). 2019 national profile of local health departments . https://www. naccho.org/uploads/downloadable-resources/Programs/Public- Health-Infrastructure/NACCHO_2019_Profile_final.pdf
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). The 12 appropriations bills released by the U.S. Congress included $800 billion in nondefense funding, a $68 billion increase over 2022. This funding is the highest level ever requested for nondefense programs. You can explore these blogs and others at www.neha.org/ government-aairs-blog. Webinars You can find an archive of past Government Aairs webinars at www.neha.org/advocacy-webinars. The following webinars were oered in September and November 2022. • Food Safety Legislation Policy and Trends: During the 2022 legislative session, policy makers made substantive changes in the manner food is prepared and sold in the U.S., and Congress oversaw and funded the food safety eorts at CDC, FDA, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). This webinar reviewed the laws passed and appropriations funded regarding food safety at state and federal levels. • 2022 Midterm Election Impact: This webinar broke down the results of the 2022 midterm election. In total, one third of the U.S. Senate, all of the U.S. House of Representatives, 6,279 state legislative seats, and 36 state governor positions were up for election in 2022. The webinar explored how these election results will change Congress and the states, and how that could impact environmental health. Finally, our Government Aairs program participated in a food safety sharing session on microenterprise home kitchen opera- tions hosted by the National Association of County and City Health O¢cials and CDC in December 2022. A microenterprise home kitchen operation is a type of food facility that is operated by the resident of a private home. Food can be stored, prepared, and served to customers at these operations, similar to a restaurant. This webinar focused on the various laws nationwide that permit microenterprise home kitchen operations and similar cottage food operations, as well as discussed the challenges these operations pose for local retail food regulatory programs. A recording of the webinar can be accessed at https://bit.ly/3iQpa6z. Support Letters We submitted support letters to the U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Ser- vices, Education, and Related Agencies in November 2022. The letters supported an increase in funding for 1) the National Center for Environmental Health within CDC to $311.85 million and 2) the O¢ce of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes within HUD to $400 million. You can view all our letters and sign-ons at www. neha.org/letters.
NEHA Government Aairs Updates By Doug Farquhar (dfarquhar@neha.org)
The NEHA Government Aairs program works to represent and advocate for environmental health professionals and to inform pol- icy makers on the importance of a well-supported and well-funded workforce. We highlight our recent activities in this update. Visit the Government Aairs webpage at www.neha.org/advocacy to access all our blogs and webinars, legislative actions, letters and sign-ons, and policy and position statements. Blogs In November 2022 we posted two blogs that explored specific state ballot measures related to environmental health and the results of the U.S. midterm elections on environmental health. On November 8, 2022, voters in the U.S. decided on 133 state ballot measures. Of these measures, several related to the environment and health, including measures on water, climate change, environmental proj- ects, healthcare, and cannabis. The first November blog highlights a few of these measures. The second blog discusses the 2022 mid- term election results with an emphasis on what the results mean for environmental health. In December 2022 we posted two blogs that focused on the fis- cal year 2023 appropriations bills for federal government agencies including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),
55
March 2023 • Journal of Environmental Health
Powered by FlippingBook