Sample Letter of Support for AB 2270 - DOC

							Organizational Sample Letter of Support for AB 2708 (Solorio)
Please place your letter on organizational letterhead. ********************************************************************* Date Assembly Member ______ State Capital Address Sacramento, CA Re: Support for AB 2708 (Solorio) Dear Assembly Member___________: [Name of organization] supports AB 2708, legislation to eliminate the advertising of nonnutritious food and beverages in California public schools. Advertising of nonnutritious
foods and beverages on school premises conflicts with the educational mission and imperative of California's schools to teach children about good health and sound nutrition, and give diligent care to the health and physical development of pupils.

Obesity has been labeled an epidemic by the Centers for Disease Control, and as of 2005 more than 28 percent of youth in grades 5, 7, and 9 are overweight or obese in California. That year, in an effort to foster more healthful eating habits on campus, California enacted landmark legislation which banned the sale of competitive nonnutritious foods and beverages on school campuses. Though a significant step in the right direction, a dvertising unhealthful food and beverages in schools continues and companies use a wide array of creative strategies for reaching the student audience.
Such advertising creates the erroneous impression that schools endorse the consumption of nonnutritious foods and beverages. This appearance is inconsistent with, and does not further, the schools' pedagogical purposes, and instead serves the commercial purposes of those engaged in the advertising and sale of nonnutritious foods and beverages. The intended health benefits of California’s nutritional school standards can be realized most fully through consistent messages by schools on healthful eating. AB 2708 aims to ensure that consistency and to take a significant step in bolstering prevention of obesity-related disease by taking the advertising of unhealthy foods and beverages out of the school.

[Please insert brief description of your organization’s experience.] We strongly support AB 2708 which simply states that the governing board of a school district shall not permit advertising of nonnutritious foods and beverages on school premises. Passage of this bill will ensure that our public schools serve their intended purpose, to educate and prepare California’s children for a healthy future.

Sincerely, Name] [Title]