Tennessee House to vote on the bill targeting purchases of candy and soda

Knoxville, Tennessee – A bill to prevent Tennessee people from buying soft drinks or candies with federal nutritional services adopted a third and last reading at home on Monday evening.

Representative Jason Zachary (R-Knoxville) proposed the bill, HB 1236. It was introduced shortly after the Associated Press said that the Trump administration was looking to prevent people from buying “soda or processed foods” through the federal additional nutritional aid program. However, he said that the administration could face obstacles and may finally need to bring the congress to change the law and allow restriction.

Zachary’s bill, otherwise known as “Tennessee Health Snap Act”, would rather ask the Ministry of Social Services of Tennessee to request a renunciation of the federal government allowing the State to restrict the SODA and the candies to be purchased with benefits. The demand should include arguments on public health problems, “the statutory intention of Snap” and “cost savings for taxpayers”.

The bill must always adopt the Senate. The senatorial version of the bill was implemented and referred to the health and well-being committee on February 12. If Governor Bill Lee would sign, the law will come into force on July 1.

“The objective of this legislation is to provide healthier results and options to those on the SNAP program by prohibiting the purchase of carbonated drinks and candies as part of the SNAP program,” Zachary said at a sub-comity audience.

He compared the proposal to the program of women, infants and children from Tennessee, which already prohibits candy and soft drinks from the purchase with its advantages. He also said that 23 other states offered similar legislation. He also said that “around $ 400 billion” had been spent on sugary drinks for children thanks to the SNAP program, citing a coalition that says it aims to reform SNAP.

The last budget proposed by Tennessee includes $ 59.5 billion in spending – magnitudes smaller than Zachary said he was spent on sugary drinks.

The representative Bo Mitchell (D-Nashville) said that he feared that the bill were cared for by people who would receive SnAP services as second-class citizens. Representative Sam McKenzie (D-Knoxville) said that he thought that Zachary’s figures seemed to be high and had encouraged him to ask the Department of State Social Services and managers who administer the program so that the data “give us a number that would be more sought after and less political”.

He also warned that the bill could be challenged before the court if it were adopted.

Greg Adkins, president of the Beverage Association of Tennessee, also spoke of the bill. He said that around 60% of drinks sold do not contain sugar, including soda. He said that if adult obesity has increased by around 37.4% since 2000, the full calorie soda is down around 23% and calories per portion is down around 42%.

“The causes of obesity are complex and no food or ingredient is responsible. This includes soda,” he said. “Families and more than 30,000 Tennessee veterans who need temporary financial assistance to buy grocery stores make the same decisions that we all make.”

He said that lighter for products could better keep families healthy. McKenzie said he thought that the Adkins association could do more to encourage healthier food choices, such as advertising publication to choose smaller service sizes.