Arizona State Rep. Leo Biasiucci (R-30) met this week with a cadre of legislators and local leaders as a part of his legislative push to ban harmful additives and dyes in school lunches. The legislation, dubbed House Bill HB 2164, would require schools to choose healthier options from food catalogs. Budget requirements have driven schools to order cheaper foods, many of which have come under fire recently for being linked to diabetes, hyperactivity, and obesity. The meeting, which also included health advocates, school officials, and representatives of the Make America Healthy Again Coalition, focused on ways to make the bill less susceptible to potential pitfalls and facilitate swift passage.

Biasiucci mingled with allies of Robert Kennedy Jr., the nominee for Health and Human Services Secretary, this past weekend at the MAHA Ball in Washington, D.C. Biasiucci has enthusiastically embraced Kennedy’s health awareness and reform crusade, which could result in a fervor of grassroots support for future bipartisan efforts.

The bill explicitly targets eleven ingredients that scientific studies and health activists have identified as detrimental, including red dye 40, brominated vegetable oil, and titanium dioxide. Over the past two years, ten other states have proposed similar legislation banning or restricting the use of these additives in publicly funded meals.

“The time has come for us to put the health of our children first,” Biasiucci told the Arizona Globe following the meeting.

In California and the other states that enacted similar laws, much of the debate centered around costs, forcing health leaders to seek ways to utilize existing dollars to mitigate the cost of healthier foods. The results have so far been promising; not only has the USDA allocated millions of dollars in school funding to purchase foods from local farms, but it also allocates additional funding via equipment grants for schools that improve school lunch quality.

Representatives from the Make America Healthy Again Coalition said they were “encouraged” by the bill and believe the political environment in Arizona is ripe for the bill to skate through February’s committee phase and ultimately to a swift floor vote on the floor.

“I’m excited to work with these wonderful people and Make America Healthy Again,” Biasiucci told the Arizona Globe. “It’s a choice of pay now or pay later with higher childhood obesity and diabetes rates.”

Biasiucci is joined by a group of Republican House and Senate members and one Democrat, Rep. Consuelo Hernandez (D-21), as sponsors of the bill, including (alphabetically):

– Rep. Selina Bliss (R-1)
– Rep. Lisa Fink (R-27)
– Rep. John Gillette (R-30)
– Rep. Consuelo Hernandez (D-21)
– Rep. Teresa Martinez (R-13)
– Rep. James Taylor (R-29)
– Rep. Julie Willoughby (R-13, Majority Whip)
– Rep. Justin Wilmeth (R-2)
– Sen. Hildy Angius (R-LD30)
– Sen. Janae Shamp (R-LD29, Majority Leader)