Pest-free housing win, asthma educator job, new asthma data, and more. It’s the August RAMP Digest.
15 August, 2013
Dear Digest Subscribers,
We are thrilled to announce that California Governor Jerry Brown has signed SB 488, setting the stage for pest-free housing! The bill, co-sponsored by RAMP (a project of the Public Health Institute), the California Association of Code Enforcement Officers and the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network, addresses a significant code enforcement gap by expanding the authority to determine pest infestations to local code enforcement officers in jurisdictions without the services of a Local Health Officer. Support from the Legislature and the Governor’s signature ensures that all tenants, regardless of where they live, can have existing laws enforced ensuring their homes are healthy and pest-free.
Please join us in thanking Governor Brown, Senator Hueso, Assemblymember Quirk-Silva, and their staff for their leadership in ensuring the enforcement of healthy housing standards in California. We are also very thankful for the bill’s supporters (we’re sorry if you supported the bill but we didn’t hear about it!):
| California Narcotic Officers Association | Long Beach Alliance for Children with Asthma |
| California Police Chiefs Association | Inquilinos Unidos |
| California Rural Legal Assistance Foundation | Pacoima Beautiful |
| California State Parent Teachers Association | Public Health Institute |
| Coalition for Economic Survival | San Diego Regional Asthma Coalition |
| Community Action to Fight Asthma | San Francisco Asthma Task Force |
| Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries | Western Center on Law and Poverty |
| Healthy Building Science | YMCA Childcare Resources Services |
| Healthy Homes Collaborative |
Because of the clear links between exposure to pests and asthma and because substandard housing conditions are more common in the same low income communities and communities of color where we find the strongest disparities in asthma rates and outcomes, we are honored to have helped close this loophole as an important step in addressing the community and environmental inequities that contribute to asthma disparities.
Opportunities
Webinar: Health and the Built Environment — What Makes a Healthy Environment? 8/21
Workshops: New School Facility Program — Progress, Predictions, and Policy Implications; 8/23 & 8/27
Job Opening: Project Coordinator/Asthma Health Educator in San Francisco Bay Area
Resources
Materials from Symposium on Cumulative Impacts and Children’s Environmental Health Available Online
Studies and Reports
State Asthma Data Released by California Health Interview Survey
State Honor Roll of Asthma and Allergy Policies Highlights School Successes and Shortcomings
Development of a Novel Tool for Engaging Children and Parents in Asthma Self-Management
Obesity and Asthma: Study Finds a Link in the Genes
Asthma During Pregnancy and Its Connections to Health in Offspring
