2-5-10 | Lawmakers say vending machine items a local school board decision | Salt Lake Tribune

Schools may be able to hold onto unhealthy snacks a little longer.

The Senate Education Committee extracted the teeth out of a bill Friday morning that would have required schools to sell healthier drinks and snacks in their vending machines. SB49 would have mandated certain nutritional guidelines in school vending machines. But lawmakers voted to replace that bill with a new version that removes the mandate in order to leave the decision up to local boards.

Under the new version of the bill, the State Board of Education would have to send nutritional guidelines to districts, but schools would not have to follow them. Schools that chose not to follow the guidelines would have to submit their policies to the state board along with letters explaining the reasons behind them. The state board would then report on those districts to lawmakers once a year.

Bill sponsor Sen. Patricia Jones, D-Holladay, called the bill an "OK compromise."

"The votes weren't there," she said of her original bill. "This is not exactly what I wanted ... It is second best.

"This is a health issue, and our kids should not be a captive audience to commercialization," she added.

Now, the state board suggests guidelines to districts, but districts don't have to follow them; they must only have policies. Schools generally use the money earned in vending machines to benefit students. Big schools can make thousands of dollars a month. Schools that turn to healthier fare, however, often see that revenue decline as kids use the vending machines less.

Before Riverton High School switched to healthier offerings, the school made about $2,700 a month from its beverage machines and about $1,900 a month from snack machines. Now, the school takes in about $1,000 a month on beverages and about $700 a month from snacks, said Steve Dunham, a Jordan School District spokesman.

Sen. Howard Stephenson, R-Draper, who suggested the new version, said he simply did not think the original bill would pass. He said the new version will hold districts accountable while still allowing them to make their own decisions.

"I think it's a local decision, but at the same time, I think the local decision should be transparent," Stephenson said. "It will make the offending schools more prominent in the public eye."

Liz Zentner, state PTA health commissioner, said she's pleased the bill was changed to allow for local decision making. She called the new version a good step toward healthier offerings at schools.

But not everyone was happy to see the mandate gone. Doug Nelson, a Salt Lake City School District board member and a pediatrician, said he's seen more kids with obesity-related health problems in recent years. He said the first version of the bill would have been a better way to keep kids healthy.

Only 18.2 percent of Utah middle and high schools did not sell candy or fatty, salty snacks in vending machines in 2008 -- the lowest percentage of 40 states surveyed, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"Allowing schools to earn small amounts of money on a can of sugary soft drink results in much larger bills down the road," Nelson said.

The committee will continue debate on the new version of the bill at a future meeting.