We couldn’t have gotten as far as we did without help from the Partnership for a Healthy Texas, the AARP, transit authorities and other groups (click here for a full list). BikeTexas’ Executive Director, Robin Stallings, is on the steering committee for the Partnership, which is an association of health-related organizations that crusade against obesity and promote diet and exercise-related legislation.
The Partnership, which includes the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, the Texas Pediatric Society, Texans Care for Children, and many others, issued press releases and action alerts promoting Complete Streets and asking their members to contact their legislators in support of Complete Streets. Their governmental affairs directors also gave BikeTexas invaluable legislative advice which we can use in sessions to come. Please be sure to thank them for their support of Complete Streets if you are connected to any of these groups.
The Partnership was successful in lobbying for several bills which have been passed into law. One was Senate Bill 226, authored by Senator Jane Nelson, “requires school districts to assess the fitness of their students and submit results to the Texas Education Agency (TEA)”. Because physical activity in schools important to us, BikeTexas weighed in in favor of this bill, though the Partnership did the heavy lifting to get it passed.