YOUR ASSOCIATION
NEHA NEWS
NEHA Government Aairs Updates Doug Farquhar, JD (dfarquhar@neha.org) Recent Activities in Washington, DC
but there are no assurances that HRSA will cover environmental health workers. We visited the oces of Representatives Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), Andy Harris (R-MD), Robert Aderholt (R-AL), and Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-IA) to discuss this concern and to request that they agree to sign-on to a letter we are circulating to HRSA Admin- istrator Carole Johnson. We also visited David Reynolds of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. The committee oversees the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and is very concerned about student loan forgiveness and workforce issues. He was very appreciative of our insights into the environmental health workforce. Submitting Testimony to Senate Appropriations We also submitted testimony in March to the Senate Appropria- tions Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over FDA. The mes- sage we advocated was that retail food safety is performed by state, local, tribal, and territorial environmental health agencies, the FDA food safety system promotes public health, and a strong and qualified environmental health workforce is necessary to meet the public health mandate around food and human food needs. Corresponding testimony will be submitted to the House Subcommittee as well. Read the entire blog of our recent activities in Washington, DC, at www.neha.org/meeting-with-fda-commissioner. Updates on Legislation We recently posted summaries of state legislation introduced so far in 2023 related food safety and climate change and health. Food Safety Legislation At the halfway point of the 2023 state legislative sessions, 161 bills have been introduced regarding food. The bills cover topics such as cannabis in food, raw milk and dairy, food delivery, food dona- tion, food safety, retail food, manufactured food, meat production, food freedom, nutrition, food deserts, and mobile food delivery. Visit www.neha.org/2023-state-food-safety-legislation for a summary of enacted legislation, as well as a breakdown of the bills by topic area. Climate Change and Health Legislation There are approximately 70 bills in the state legislatures address- ing climate change and health. Bills have been introduced in the states of Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, and Washington. Currenlty, 13 of the bills have failed, none have passed, and the rest remain pending. California and Connecticut had the most bills (13 and 12, respectively), while Louisiana, New Hampshire, and New Jersey had only one bill. Bill topics include climate resi- lency, zero-emission vehicles, carbon pricing markets, and climate response, among others. Details on each state’s legislation is posted at www.neha.org/2023-climate-change-health-legislation.
We have been busy advocating for the environmental health profession. Here is a summary of our continued work to pro- mote the interests of our mem- bers and the environmental health workforce.
Meeting With Leadership From the Food and Drug Administration
We were in our nation’s capital the first week of April visiting the Food and Drug Adminis- tration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland. Execu-
Doug Farquhar, our director of Government Aairs, visited the oce of Representative Robert Aderholt (R-AL). Photo courtesy of Doug Farquhar.
tive Director Dr. David Dyjack, Director of the Entrepreneurial Zone Rance Baker, Director of Government Aairs Doug Farquhar, and Past President Bob Custard had a lengthy meeting with FDA Commissioner Dr. Robert Cali and Principal Deputy Commis- sioner Dr. Janet Woodcock to discuss retail food safety and the environmental health workforce. The meeting began as an overview of retail food safety but soon expanded as Dr. Cali and Dr. Woodcock had many questions as to how retail food safety operates at the local level and its relationship with FDA. They were pleased to hear how eective the NEHA- FDA Retail Flexible Funding Model Grant Program operated and the eectiveness of both the FDA model Food Code and Voluntary National Retail Food Regulatory Program Standards. We addressed certain concerns regarding FDA, emphasizing that: • Retail food safety is performed by state, local, tribal, and territo- rial agencies. • The FDA food safety system promotes public health. • A strong, qualified environmental health workforce is nec- essary to meet the public health mandate around food and human food needs. We agreed to work together to advance the joint goal of improv- ing retail food safety in this country. Promoting the Environmental Health Workforce Before Congress Farquhar also visited Congress in early April to promote the inclu- sion of the environmental health workforce within the Public Health Workforce Loan Repayment Program. The Inflation Reduction Act passed last year included a stu- dent loan repayment provision for public health workers. The law is being implemented by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA). HRSA has the ability to include the environmental health workforce within this loan repayment,
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Volume 85 • Number 10
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