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CHILDREN’S CABINET, HEALTH COVERAGE, UNIVERSAL PRE-K, HEALTHIER DIETS AND EXPLICIT VIDEO BAN INCLUDED IN NEW CHILDREN’S AGENDA

Governor Eliot Spitzer and Lieutenant Governor David Paterson today announced a comprehensive strategy to ensure that all of New York’s children are given an equal opportunity for success.

The children’s agenda is a collection of actions introduced by the Governor to lay the groundwork for healthy and successful lives.

“We must see to it that every child in this state is given an equal opportunity for a successful future,” said Governor Spitzer. “Our children’s agenda supports this effort by focusing our state’s resources and energy on the particularly vulnerable period in a child’s life when development is most important.”

“All of our children deserve a level playing field. From the prevention and treatment of childhood obesity to protecting them from violent video games, this initiative ensures that we have the tools in place for them to succeed in New York,” said Lieutenant Governor David Paterson. “Our youth's health and safety are pivotal for our state’s future and we will not fail them.”

The children’s agenda will:

• Establish a Children’s Cabinet created through an Executive Order which will bring together the many agencies of state government to implement the necessary reforms required for the success of New York’s children. The Children’s Cabinet will consist of a diverse group of agency commissioners, chaired by Director of State Operations, Olivia Golden, and Co-Chaired by Deputy Secretary for Health and Human Services, Dennis Whalen, and Deputy Secretary for Education, Manny Rivera.
• Charge the Children’s Cabinet with the implementation of budget priorities crucial to the positive development of children such as universal health insurance for children and universal pre-kindergarten.
• Introduce legislation including:
• The Healthy Schools Act will strengthen our state’s school nutrition and junk-food standards, restricting candy, fast food and soda from being sold in schools.
• Safe Games Act will create a mechanism for parents to ensure that retailers cannot sell video games with sexually explicit and excessively violent content to children.
• Anti-Tobacco Legislation will prohibit the sale of flavored cigarettes, known as “starter cigarettes” because of their dangerous ability to hook kids early to the habits of smoking.

The Governor’s speech is available at http://www.ny.gov/governor/keydocs/0420071_speech.html