Senate Bill sb1598
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 1598
By Senator Saunders
37-1196A-07
1 A bill to be entitled
2 An act relating to the public health system;
3 amending s. 381.001, F.S.; revising the intent
4 of the Legislature regarding the mission of the
5 state's public health system, the Department of
6 Health's duty to monitor and regulate factors
7 in the environment which affect the public
8 health, and the functions of the public health
9 system with regard to local planning and
10 development activities; providing additional
11 legislative intent regarding the improvement of
12 the land use planning and growth management
13 process by planning agencies; providing an
14 effective date.
15
16 WHEREAS, the cost of health care in this state has
17 grown substantially, and hospitals statewide face $2.1 billion
18 in uncompensated care annually, and an estimated 20 percent of
19 Florida's population is now uninsured, and
20 WHEREAS, the state's population is now over 18 million
21 and continues to grow, and
22 WHEREAS, motor vehicle traffic has continually risen,
23 and the number of trips people take on foot has dropped by 42
24 percent in the last 20 years, and the percentage of all trips
25 under a 1/2 mile which are made by vehicle instead of walking
26 in Florida is 54 percent, and the percentage of all traffic
27 deaths involving pedestrians in Florida is 17 percent, and
28 WHEREAS, asthma associated with poor air quality from
29 motor vehicles is the number one reason children visit the
30 emergency room and miss school, and
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 1598
37-1196A-07
1 WHEREAS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
2 report that 60 percent of adults in this state are overweight
3 or at risk of becoming overweight, and that 28 percent of
4 low-income children between 2 and 5 years of age in this state
5 are overweight or at risk of becoming overweight, and
6 WHEREAS, Dr. Julie Gerberding, the Director of the
7 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that 1 in 3
8 Americans born in 2000 will develop diabetes sometime during
9 their lifetime and that Type II Diabetes, once called
10 adult-onset diabetes, is becoming increasingly common in
11 children, and the cost for treating diabetes in the United
12 States is estimated at $132 billion annually, and
13 WHEREAS, Florida has a large elderly population to
14 consider when planning for future transportation, health care,
15 and community needs, and the number of people older than age
16 65 will double by the year 2020, and
17 WHEREAS, Dr. Howard Frumkin, the current Director of
18 the National Center for Environmental Health, and Dr. Richard
19 Jackson, the former Director of the National Center for
20 Environmental Health and the former California State Health
21 Officer, believe that the physical environment affects
22 physical and mental health, and that communities must be
23 designed to encourage walking, biking, and social interaction
24 and to prevent traffic injuries, decrease air and water
25 pollution, improve pedestrian facilities, preserve green
26 space, upgrade public transportation, and offer healthful
27 services in near proximity, and
28 WHEREAS, the break between the planning and development
29 processes and community public health must be bridged, NOW,
30 THEREFORE,
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 1598
37-1196A-07
1 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
2
3 Section 1. Section 381.001, Florida Statutes, is
4 amended to read:
5 381.001 Legislative intent; public health system.--
6 (1) It is the intent of the Legislature that the
7 Department of Health be responsible for the state's public
8 health system which shall be designed to promote, protect, and
9 improve the health of all people in the state. The mission of
10 the state's public health system is to foster the conditions
11 in which people can be healthy, by assessing state and
12 community health needs and priorities through data collection,
13 epidemiologic studies, health-affect assessments, and
14 community participation; by developing comprehensive public
15 health policies and objectives aimed at improving the health
16 status of people in the state; and by ensuring essential
17 health care and a natural and built an environment which
18 enhances the health of the individual and the community. The
19 Legislature recognizes that the state's public health system
20 must be founded on an active partnership between federal,
21 state, and local government and between the public and private
22 sectors, and, therefore, assessment, policy development, and
23 service provision must be shared by all of these entities to
24 achieve its mission.
25 (2) It is the intent of the Legislature that the
26 department, in carrying out the mission of public health,
27 focus attention on identifying, assessing, and controlling the
28 presence and spread of communicable diseases; on monitoring
29 and regulating factors in the natural and built environment
30 which may impair the public's health, with particular
31 attention to supporting healthy communities; preventing
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 1598
37-1196A-07
1 contamination of drinking water, the air people breathe, and
2 the food people consume; and ensuring availability of and
3 access to preventive and primary health care, including, but
4 not limited to, acute and episodic care, prenatal and
5 postpartum care, child health, family planning, school health,
6 chronic disease prevention, child and adult immunization,
7 dental health, nutrition, and health education and promotion
8 services.
9 (3) It is, furthermore, the intent of the Legislature
10 that the public health system include comprehensive planning,
11 data collection, technical support, and health resource
12 development functions. These functions include, but are not
13 limited to, state laboratory and pharmacy services, the state
14 vital statistics system, the Florida Center for Health
15 Information and Policy Analysis, emergency medical services
16 coordination and support, assessment of local planning and
17 development activities, and recruitment, retention, and
18 development of preventive and primary health care
19 professionals and managers.
20 (4) It is, furthermore, the intent of the Legislature
21 that the department provide public health services through the
22 67 county health departments in partnership with county
23 governments, as specified in part I of chapter 154, and in so
24 doing make every attempt possible to solicit the support and
25 involvement of private and not-for-profit health care agencies
26 in fulfilling the public health mission.
27 (5) It is, furthermore, the intent of the Legislature,
28 recognizing that the roots of planning and zoning are in the
29 public health field, that the state, regional, and local
30 planning agencies improve the land use planning and growth
31 management process through the following means:
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Florida Senate - 2007 SB 1598
37-1196A-07
1 (a) Use and make reference to the Principles of Smart
2 Growth, a developing movement that invests time, attention,
3 and resources in restoring community and vitality to center
4 cities and older suburbs, in land use decisionmaking.
5 (b) Support public health membership on review boards,
6 planning commissions, regional planning councils, and other
7 planning bodies of deliberation.
8 (c) Provide incentives for developers and community
9 redevelopment projects at the local level in order to support
10 a healthy development certification or smart growth
11 designation for such qualifying developments or projects.
12 (d) Support the use of health-affect assessments on
13 developments of a certain size or of a development considered
14 to be regional.
15 Section 2. This act shall take effect upon becoming a
16 law.
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19 SENATE SUMMARY
20 Revises the intent of the Legislature regarding the
mission of the state's public health system, the
21 Department of Health's duty to monitor and regulate
factors in the environment which affect the public
22 health, and the functions of the public health system
with regard to local planning and development activities.
23 Provides additional legislative intent regarding the
improvement of the land use planning and growth
24 management process by planning agencies.
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CODING: Words stricken are deletions; words underlined are additions.