The ASPHN Board of Directors met on April 12, 2024.
- Membership applications approved in April 2024:
- 14 General members: Teresa Henson and Jessica Vincent (AK); Julie Chessen, Madison Fellenz, Stephanie Lawson, Elizabeth Moreno, Michelle Nelson and Stephanie Salazar (CA); Kellie Bentley (KS); Mallory Smith (NC); Danielle Tropea (NJ); Yetunde Fadipe (TN); Karen Sites (TX); and Acacia Corylus (WA).
- Ten (10) Associate members, including three (3) students/emerging professionals: Celine Heskey (CA); Deepa Mathew (FL); Melissa Fuster and Megan Herrington (LA); Jenny Breen (MN); Shelli Breadon and Talia Hutton (NC); Noereem Mena (NH); and Dana Dychtwald and Patrice Paolella (NJ).
- The motion to accept the new electronic transfer policy and procedure passed unanimously.
- The motion to approve submitting the linked letter with comments concerning the 2024 Farm Bill to the Congressional leadership of both the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry as well as the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture passed unanimously.
- The motion to direct the Governance Committee to draft a Policy and Procedure regarding composition of the Teller’s Committee passed unanimously.
- The motion to approve an amendment to the ASPHN bylaws to increase the limit of board members from a single state from a maximum of 2 to a maximum of three (3) passed unanimously.
- The motion to amend the bylaws with additional language which specifies that 15% of council membership required to vote for the council election to be valid except when there is no competition passed unanimously.
- The motion to move the discussion to remove the MCH Nutrition Council Liaisons as a distinct membership category to a future Board meeting passed unanimously.
- The motion to update the language to reflect the current electronic voting methods used passed unanimously.
- Policy Committee actions have been taken on behalf of ASPHN:
- Signed on to CSPI’s letter to the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) regarding nutrition, ingredients, and allergen labeling for alcohol. The TTB is seeking public input on “labeling of wine, distilled spirits, and malt beverages with per-serving alcohol and nutritional information, major food allergens, and/or ingredients” as they consider publishing rulemaking in these areas. Most alcoholic beverages are currently not required to have labels disclosing calories, nutritional content, or even standard drink content, ingredients, and major food allergens.
- Signed on to NWA’s annual “Friends of WIC” national coalition letter in support of WIC funding for FY2025. The letter’s two main components are:
- Full funding to serve projected caseloads for FY25: specifically, we are urging $7.75 billion in funding for WIC, which is inclusive of regular set-asides as well as a renewed investment in WIC’s technology programs to support implementation of the forthcoming rule updating WIC’s food packages.
- Clear commitment to the scientific integrity of WIC’s food packages. The science-based food package is the core of WIC’s longstanding public health success. Undue interference with the implementation of the final rule is strongly discouraged.
- Signed on to the Data: Elemental to Health campaign’s letter to the House and Senate LHHS Subcommittees seeking $340 million for the CDC’s Data Modernization and $100 million for the CDC’s Center for Forecasting and Analytics (CFA) for FY25. Data Modernization is imperative to facilitate rapid and smooth data sharing among public health systems in response to any public health crisis, and the CFA will use data, analytics, and modeling to improve public health preparedness.