HOUSE 3rd Reading Unamended March 30, 2009 HOUSE Amended 2nd Reading March 26, 2009 SENATE 3rd Reading Unamended March 4, 2009 SENATE Amended 2nd Reading March 3, 2009First Regular Session Sixty-seventh General Assembly STATE OF COLORADO REREVISED This Version Includes All Amendments Adopted in the Second House LLS NO. 09-0690.01 Brita Darling SENATE BILL 09-131 SENATE SPONSORSHIP Romer, HOUSE SPONSORSHIP Massey, Senate Committees House Committees Education Education A BILL FOR AN ACT Concerning the requirement that students in public schools engage in a certain amount of physical activity each week. Bill Summary (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced and does not necessarily reflect any amendments that may be subsequently adopted.) Requires a school district board of education and the state charter school institute to ensure that each student in a public school of a school district or an institute charter school engages in at least 150 minutes of physical activity each week. Allows a school district or institute charter school to utilize committees that have been created to establish and review a school's wellness policy or school accountability committees to implement and monitor the physical activity requirement. Requires schools currently providing students with more than 150 minutes of physical activity each week to maintain the higher level of physical activity. Requires a school district and the state charter school institute to report annually to the department of education the number of minutes that students are engaged in physical activity and the types of activities that are providing the physical activity. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Colorado: SECTION 1. Article 32 of title 22, Colorado Revised Statutes, is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION to read: 22-32-136.5. Children's wellness - physical activity requirement - legislative declaration. (1) (a) The general assembly hereby finds that: (I) Healthy children are more likely to be engaged learners, they do better in school, they have improved attendance, and they are less likely to have behavioral problems inside and outside of the classroom; (II) Many studies have documented the link between the mind and body and the effect of movement on cognition and stimulated blood flow and oxygen to a child's brain; (III) Children who engage in physical activity as part of the learning environment are healthier and process information better; (IV) School is the only place that many children are exposed to physical activity; and (V) According to the 2007 child health survey conducted by the department of public health and environment, one in four Colorado children are overweight or obese, and only fifty-six percent of children and thirty-seven percent of adolescents meet daily physical activity recommendations. (b) Therefore, the general assembly declares that, by supporting physical activity in public schools, Colorado will ensure that all children have the same access to the activities that build their bodies and their brains and support their abilities to think, react, create, and learn. (2) (a) Each school district board of education is encouraged to adopt a policy that incorporates a minimum of one hundred fifty minutes of physical activity per week into the activity of each full-day elementary school student; except that the minimum requirement for physical activity may be reduced to one hundred twenty minutes per week for a student attending an elementary school that meets fewer than five days per week. Each school district board of education is encouraged to implement the policy beginning with the 2010-11 school year. (b) Each school district board of education may require the person or committee in each school designated to ensure that the school complies with the local wellness policy, as described in section 22-32-136, or the school district accountability committee and school advisory councils created pursuant to article 7 of this title, to review and advise the school district or an individual school regarding the school district's or the individual school's physical activity plan and compliance with this section. (c) By encouraging a school district to adopt a policy concerning physical activity pursuant to this section, the general assembly is not intending to dictate instruction in the classroom. (3) For purposes of this section, unless the context otherwise requires, "physical activity" may include, but need not be limited to: (a) Exercise programs; (b) Fitness breaks; (c) Recess; (d) Field trips that include physical activity; (e) Classroom activities that include physical activity; and (f) Physical education classes. (4) A school shall not substitute physical activity for physical education instruction. SECTION 2. 22-30.5-505, Colorado Revised Statutes, is amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SUBSECTION to read: 22-30.5-505. State charter school institute - institute board - appointment - powers and duties - rules. (14) The institute is encouraged to adopt and implement a policy concerning physical activity for students at an institute charter school as described in section 22-32-136.5. SECTION 3. Act subject to petition - effective date. This act shall take effect at 12:01 a.m. on the day following the expiration of the ninety-day period after final adjournment of the general assembly that is allowed for submitting a referendum petition pursuant to article V, section 1 (3) of the state constitution, (August 4, 2009, if adjournment sine die is on May 6, 2009); except that, if a referendum petition is filed against this act or an item, section, or part of this act within such period, then the act, item, section, or part, if approved by the people, shall take effect on the date of the official declaration of the vote thereon by proclamation of the governor.