ANSWER THE WEEK ONE DISCUSSION POST IN IT ENTIRETY.

Discussion Board Week 1: Review a Legislative Session

Welcome to COH 435!

First, please take a moment to introduce yourself to the class. Let us know one thing you have learned

about public health that you perceive to be of great importance. Then, tell us what population you

would like to work with when you complete your degree. Lastly, one thing you would like to learn from

this course.

Then..

Becoming familiar with the legislative process is an important skill for public health advocacy,

prevention, and policy.

Step One: Review the Senate Floor session for March 10th 2016:

http://calchannel.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=7&clip_id=3442 Navigate to ~24 minutes

into the video. There is a lag on getting the session started. After that there is a remaining 1 hour 15

minutes in length. Please review it in its entirety.

The session video should be opened using Google Chrome or Firefox (Internet Explorer will not work

effectively for this video)

That day, the California Legislature passed a set of landmark public health bills:

SBX2-5 Electronic cigarettes (Leno)

SBX2-7 Tobacco products: minimum legal age (Hernandez)

ABX2-7 Smoking in the workplace (Mark Stone)

ABX2-9 Tobacco use programs (Thurmond)

ABX2-10 Local taxes: authorization: cigarettes and tobacco products (Bloom)

ABX2-11 Cigarette and tobacco product licensing: fees and funding (Nazarian)

Step 2: Each bill that was passed that day has the potential to impact improvements in public

health. After reviewing the video, students will select two bills that interest them and then, research

and describe.

1.

1. Using the video or the bill text, briefly describe each of the bills (2-3 sentences). The bill

text can be found by looking through the agenda on the right-hand side of the screen.

2. Be sure to include two specific facts you learned about each bill

Step 3: Review Chapters 1 & 2 in your text. Then:

1.

1. Focusing on your text share/describe a few aspects of the policymaking process you saw

take place while viewing the video.

2. Using the internet, briefly research and describe (2-3 sentences) the policymaker that

wrote one of the policies you described above. Expand upon the section on p. 32 in the

text about policymakers and connect to your description. Why may the policymaker

support this policy?

3. Describe why government intervention is considered appropriate for the population?

Peer Response Posts: You will also respond to at least two classmate posts.

Review your colleagues’ posts. Using these suggestions (or come up with your own):

1. Do you believe the policy they described is needed to improve the health of the public? Why or

why not?

2. Expand on the “actors” involved in the legislative process: policymakers; interest groups;

lobbyists; media; citizens or health scientists/practitioners. How may they get involved with one

of the policies discussed in this forum?