SACRAMENTO – Assemblymember Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys) today helped kick off Fitness Month in California by helping to raise awareness about activities put on by the California Task Force on Youth and Workplace Wellness.
 
Fitness Month includes a variety of activities and free services for legislators, Capitol employees, and the public to increase awareness for nutrition and fitness issues while also inspiring individual commitments to healthy eating and greater physical activity.

Assemblymember Levine also discussed his measure – Assembly Bill 1439 – which would provide a tax credit to businesses in California that provide their employees access to fitness-related activities.

“The goal of this legislation is very simple – we’re trying to help people get into healthy, active lifestyles,” said Assemblymember Levine, who ran the five miles to the morning event from his home in Sacramento. “An hour’s worth of exercise would reduce the health costs to the employer, the employee and the state.”

Under AB 1439, businesses in California would receive a tax credit equal to 10 percent of what they spend each year to improve the fitness of their employees.

Qualifying expenditures include:

1. Costs of equipping, maintaining, and operating a facility;
   
2. Costs of financially supporting an amateur athletic team that engages in vigorous athletic activity;
   
3. Costs of subsidizing an employee’s membership with a health club located in this state;
   
4. Fifty Percent of the cost of employing a person or organization to provide on-site information on qualified topics such as nutrition or instruction on fitness activity; and
   
5. Costs incurred in connection with hiring an organization to operate an employee fitness facility.

Innumerable studies and research have demonstrated the link between physical fitness and improved health outcomes. A June 2005 nationwide survey of 365 companies by the Deloitte Center of Health Solutions found that 62 percent of companies had implemented wellness programs and 33 percent said they were considering doing so. Of companies with wellness programs, 64 percent said rising healthcare costs were a major factor in their decision.

“Obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death behind tobacco use and is responsible for an estimated $28.5 billion in healthcare costs,” Levine said. “It is my hope that this tax credit funded by the state will in turn lower healthcare costs to all Californians by combating obesity, heart disease, Type II diabetes, and other sedentary ailments.”

Assembly Bill 1439 is modeled on legislation that has been introduced in Florida and discussed at the federal level for years. Its first hearing will be May 7 in the Assembly’s Revenue and Taxation Committee.