HeLP America Act

Bill: 108-s-2558
Sponsor: Sen. Harkin, Tom [D-IA]
Introduced: 2004-06-22 in the Senate
Policy area: Health
Subjects: Administrative procedure
Administrative remedies
Advertising
Agriculture and Food
Ambulatory care
Anxiety
Bikeways
Blood pressure
Boundaries
Breast cancer
Business records
Canada
Carcinogens
Cardiovascular diseases
Cervical cancer
Child health
Child nutrition
Cholesterol
Chronically ill
Cigarettes
Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues
Civil actions and liability
Coinsurance
Commerce
Community health services
Confidential communications
Congregate housing
Congress
Congressional investigations
Congressional oversight
Congressional reporting requirements
Consumer protection
Cost effectiveness
Crime and Law Enforcement
Curricula
Deceptive advertising
Defective products
Dental care
Department of Agriculture
Department of Health and Human Services
Department of Transportation
Diet
Directories
Disabled
Drug abuse
Drug abuse prevention
Drug approvals
Drug therapy
Drugs
Economics and Public Finance
Education
Education of the disadvantaged
Educational accountability
Elementary and secondary education
Employee health benefits
Evaluation research (Social action programs)
Exercise
Families
Federal Trade Commission
Federal advisory bodies
Federal aid to education
Federal aid to health facilities
Federal aid to research
Federal aid to transportation
Federal employees
Federal preemption
Fees
Finance and Financial Sector
Fines (Penalties)
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Foreign Trade and International Finance
Foreign corporations
Fruit
Government Operations and Politics
Government employees' health insurance
Government paperwork
Government publicity
Government trust funds
Grants-in-aid
Health counseling
Health education
Health insurance
Health planning
Health surveys
Health warnings
Housing and Community Development
Imports
Income tax
Independent regulatory commissions
Indexing (Economic policy)
Information disclosure (Securities law)
Infrastructure
Injunctions
Insurance premiums
Intellectual property
Interest
Investors
Judicial review
Labeling
Labor and Employment
Latin America
Law
Liability (Law)
Lifestyle
Limitation of actions
Local laws
Marketing
Medicaid
Medical fees
Medical research
Medical screening
Medical tests
Medicare
Mental depression
Mental health services
Mental illness
Mexico
Minorities
Minority health
Nicotine
Nutrition
Obesity
Oils and fats
Osteoporosis
Packaging
Parent-school relationships
Pedestrians
Physical education and training
Physical fitness
Pregnant women
Preventive medicine
Problem children
Product counterfeiting
Product safety
Profit
Public service advertising
Research grants
Restaurants
Restrictive trade practices
Retail trade
Right of privacy
Road construction
Sales promotion
Salt
School health programs
School lunch program
Signs and signboards
Small business
Smokeless tobacco
Smoking
Smoking and youth
Smuggling
Social Welfare
Sports and Recreation
Sports facilities
Standards
State laws
Stress (Psychology)
Surveys
Tax consultants
Tax credits
Tax deductions
Tax evasion
Tax exclusion
Tax penalties
Tax returns
Tax shelters
Taxation
Tobacco
Tobacco exports
Tobacco industry
Tobacco tax
Traffic accidents and safety
Traffic signs and signals
Transportation and Public Works
User charges
Vegetables
Vending machines
Vocational rehabilitation
Warning labels
Weight loss
Women
Women's health

Summary:
action_date: 2004-06-22
text: 
Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention America Act or the HeLP America Act - Sets forth provisions for the establishment of, and incentives for, preventive health programs.
 
Provides for: (1) a program to make free fresh fruits and vegetables available in schools; (2) establishment of a local school wellness policy; (3) healthy school nutrition environment incentive grants; and (4) school mental health program grants. 
 
Healthy Workforce Act of 2004 - Amends the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide for: (1) a wellness program credit; and (2) an income exclusion for employer-provided off-premises health club services. 
 
Provides for grants to promote individual and community health, to prevent the incidence of chronic disease, and to implement Living Well With a Disability Programs.
 
Requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to: (1) develop enhanced standards for the design of roads and intersection controls to improve pedestrian and bicycle safety; and (2) implement public health surveillance measures to address mental and behavioral health needs.
 
Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act - Amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to require the Secretary to: (1) regulate tobacco products (through the Food and Drug Administration); and (2) establish the Tobacco Products Scientific Advisory Committee. Sets forth tobacco product standards and registration, recordkeeping, reporting, manufacturer and importer user fee, labeling, advertising, and marketing requirements.
 
Requires vending machines and certain restaurants to provide nutritional information on each food offered, including the number of calories.
 
Amends the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 to allow the Secretary to prohibit the advertising of certain foods in participating schools.
 
Disallows deductions for certain tobacco-related advertising and marketing expenses.
 
Provides for national and local campaigns to reduce the use of tobacco products. Allows the Secretary to impose penalties on the tobacco industry for failure to achieve specified goals to reduce youth smoking.
 
Amends the Social Security Act to provide for the coverage of certain counseling and screening services, including for substance use, diet, exercise, clinical depression, anxiety, and cessation of tobacco use.
 
Establishes the Help (Healthy Lifestyles and Prevention) America Trust Fund to fund smoking cessation efforts and other efforts required by this Act.
 
Directs the Secretary to conduct research on obesity prevention, treatment, and control with regard to the effectiveness of physical activity and dietary counseling. 
 
Revises provisions concerning tax shelters, including defining economic substance and adding or increasing the penalty for certain types of tax shelter activity.


Legislative actions:
action_date: 2004-06-22
text: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Finance.
action_date: 2004-06-22
text: Introduced in Senate
action_date: 2004-06-18
text: Sponsor introductory remarks on measure. (CR S7047-7050)