Policy Resolution HSE-15-05

WHEREAS, the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) recognizes that our constituents face a growing burden of largely preventable chronic illnesses, such as heart disease, stroke, obesity, and diabetes;

WHEREAS, Baltimore, MD through its Health in All Policies (HiAP) program, Healthy Baltimore 2015, was able to reduce the rate of premature death due to cardiovascular disease among Black people by 9.9 percent and decrease the number of new HIV infections by 25.4 percent;

WHEREAS, California’s Health in All Policies Task Force has set out to improve access to healthy food, affordable housing, green spaces, and active transportation and improve community safety through violence prevention;

WHEREAS, people in disadvantaged communities often have fewer resources for health, which is reflected in significantly higher burdens of chronic illness, worse health outcomes, and shorter life expectancies;

WHEREAS, the health and well-being of all people are critical elements to supporting healthy and prosperous states, including economic sustainability, increasing workforce participation and productivity, and slowing the ongoing rise in medical care expenditures;

WHEREAS, the physical, economic, and social environments in which people live, learn, work, and play influence the adoption of healthy lifestyles, by making it more or less difficult for individuals to choose behaviors that promote or diminish health and are widely referred to as “social determinants of health”;

WHEREAS, social determinants of health are significantly influenced by policies and practices developed from various legislatures, commissions, and councils; state agencies; and departments at all levels of government related to housing, transportation, education, air and water quality, zoning, parks, criminal justice, employment, recreation, health, and other policy areas;

WHEREAS, public health agencies alone cannot change these environments, but must work collaboratively with the many other governmental agencies, businesses, and community-based organizations, and the residents that are best positioned to create healthy communities;

WHEREAS, strategies to create healthy communities create co-benefits by simultaneously supporting state goals of improving air and water quality, protecting natural resources and agricultural lands, increasing the availability of affordable housing, improving infrastructure systems, planning sustainable communities, and addressing climate change; and

WHEREAS, the HiAP approach uses health as a linking factor in convening across sectors to address major societal issues, it focuses on co-benefits and win-win strategies, and harnesses the power agencies and departments bring through their areas of individual expertise.

THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) shall continue its engagement of members regarding the social determinants of health, and officially recognize that the health status of individuals and communities results in large part from numerous issues related to transportation, housing, economic development, education, income inequality, environment, etc. either beyond an individual’s personal health decisions or which actually constrain that individual’s decisions;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that NBCSL urges its members to educate stakeholders in their respective states and convene Health in All Policies Task Forces in their states;

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that also applauds the work of National Hispanic Caucus of State Legislators, National Asian Pacific American Caucus State Legislators, and National Caucus of Native American State Legislators to improve the health of marginalized communities, particularly addressing social determinants of health, in a coordinated effort with NBCSL under the “Quad Caucus”; and

BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and other federal and state government officials as appropriate.

• SPONSOR: Representative Brenda Gilmore (TN)
• Committee of Jurisdiction: Housing Policy Committee
• Certified by Committee Chair: Representative Brenda Gilmore (TN)
• Ratified in Plenary Session: Ratification Date is December 12, 2014
• Ratification is certified by: Representative Joe Armstrong (TN), President