Hat tip to Junkfood Science for bringing this to everyones attention.
Three politicians from the Mississippi House of Representatives, two Republicans and one Democrat, have proposed a bill that forbids restaurants and food establishments from serving food to anyone who is obese (as defined by the State).
House Bill 282, PDF file found here, has been introduced to the 2008 Mississippi legislative session, by Representative W.T. Mayhall, Jr. and co-authored by Bobby Shows, and John Read.
The description of the bill: Food establishments; prohibit from serving food to any person who is obese.
The title of the bill reads:
An Act To Prohibit Certain Food Establishments From Serving Food To Any Person Who Is Obese, Based On Criteria Prescribed By The State Department Of Health; To Direct The Department To Prepare Written Materials That Describe And Explain The Criteria For Determining Whether a Person Is Obese And To Provide Those Materials To The Food Establishment; To Direct The Department To Monitor The Food Establishment For Compliance With The Provisions Of This Act; And For Related Purposes.Full text of the bill:
An act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the state department of health; to direct the department to prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese and to provide those materials to the food establishments; to direct the department to monitor the food establishments for compliance with the provisions of this act; and for related purposes. Be it enacted by the legislature of the state of Mississippi:
SECTION 1.
(1) The provisions of this section shall apply to any food establishment that is required to obtain a permit from the State Department of Health under Section 41-3-15(4)(f), that operates primarily in an enclosed facility and that has five (5) or more seats for customers.
(2) Any food establishment to which this section applies shall not be allowed to serve food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the State Department of Health after consultation with the Mississippi Council on Obesity Prevention and Management established under Section 41-101-1 or its successor. The State Department of Health shall prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese, and shall provide those materials to all food establishments to which this section applies. A food establishment shall be entitled to rely on the criteria for obesity in those written materials when determining whether or not it is allowed to serve food to any person.
(3) The State Department of Health shall monitor the food establishments to which this section applies for compliance with the provisions of this section, and may revoke the permit of any food establishment that repeatedly violates the provisions of this section.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2008.
Under this bill, restaurants that did not comply would have their business permits revoked.
Representative Mayhall admits he does not think his bill would pass but that it was, indeed,a serious effort on his part because of the “urgency of the obesity crisis and need for government action."
Mayhall has been a legislator since 2004 until present and if this bill passed he proposed it become effective in July of 2008 and he referred this bill to the Public Health and Human Services;Judiciary B, on 1/25/08.
If you wish to try to get a comment from either of these politicians, I am listing the contact information for all three of them below.
W. T. Mayhall, Jr.
District 40 - DeSoto
Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
Home:
8417 Cedarbrush Drive
Southaven, MS 38671
(662)393-2069 (H)
(901)734-9540 (C)
Email:
tmayhall@house.ms.gov
John Read
District 112 - Jackson
Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
Home:
2396 Robert Hiram Drive
Gautier, MS 39552
(228)497-9852 (H)
(228)497-4090 (W)
Email:
jread@house.ms.gov
Bobby Shows
District 89 - Jones
Capitol:
P. O. Box 1018
Jackson, MS 39215
Home:
P. O. Box 373
Ellisville, MS 39437
(601)477-9225 (H)
(601)477-3956 (W)
Email:
bshows@house.ms.gov
If you do call or email, please leave their responses in the comment section below.
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