“You’re welcome, Denise,” Kennedy said, referring to West Virginia’s first lady. But Morrisey joked back, “That may be a little more than I bargained for.”
In his opening remarks, Morrisey said West Virginia ranks at the bottom for several health metrics. The state has the highest obesity rating in the country and is the second state to have the lowest life expectancy rates, according to the State of Childhood Obesity and the World Population Review, respectively.
Morrisey plans to implement the “Four Pillars of a Healthy West Virginia.” The first pillar is “Clean Up the Food,” and adheres to the recently signed legislation that bans certain dyes in public school lunches, per WVVA. It will eventually impact all foods in the state.
The second pillar is to get West Virginians back to work by “expanding the current mandatory employment and training requirements necessary to receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program [SNAP] benefits,” the Senate bill reads.
The third focuses on getting residents to move their bodies, per WVVA. The fourth and final pillar is “Reward Healthy Food Choices.” He said that SNAP recipients will need more nutritious and quality foods and SNAP will need to be “realigned” with those goals.
The press conference concluded with Morrisey signing the request for a waiver that the state can bar citizens from using SNAP to purchase soda, per WVVA.
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