Legislative Update (5/12/15)
Friends - I hope you had a good weekend (happy belated Mothers Day to all the mom’s out there!) We are deep in it: just 3 WEEKS remain of the legislative session.
Victory Alert: Our school lunch safety bill PASSED the Texas House 125-0! Huge thanks to Rep. Caroline Harris Davila and Sen. Bryan Hughes for championing this critical step forward to remove harmful additives from school lunches. Now onto the Governor’s desk!
We have several more MTHA bills in striking distance, and we need your help to push them to the House Floor this week. The junk food special interests are trying to stall us out and kill the clock. Can you make some calls asking for the House Calendars Committee to place SB 25 and SB 379 on a House Calendar for this week?
SB 25 (Kolkhorst/Hull): Truth-in-labeling for processed foods, nutrition education for medical students, and ensures PE can’t be taken away as punishment.
SB 379 (Middleton/Gerdes): Prohibits soda from being purchased using taxpayer dollars with SNAP.
👉 Click here for phone numbers + a quick script.
If you are curious which “MAHA” bills are still moving and their current status, click here.
Casey Means: Surgeon General Nominee & The Battle for Reform
Big news: Casey Means has been nominated by President Trump to serve as the next U.S. Surgeon General. If confirmed, she would be the first openly functional medicine advocate in that role—and the establishment is losing its mind. Why? Because she’s not a practicing doctor, and her vision is fundamentally disruptive.
Here’s the truth: Casey Means left a promising surgical career after becoming disillusioned with how profit-driven and symptom-focused our medical system is. She saw firsthand that instead of addressing the root causes of disease, our system treats symptoms with medications and leaves people trapped in a cycle of declining health.
Critics say she’s unqualified, but the real threat is that she’s not one of them. She’s spent years exposing how ultra-processed foods are driving America’s chronic disease crisis. And she’s built her platform on science-backed reforms like:
Prioritizing nutrition and metabolic health in medicine
Challenging the corporate stranglehold on health/nutrition policy
Advocating for food-as-medicine and a total rethink of U.S. dietary guidelines
The backlash shows exactly why we need a shakeup. For 50 years, the same forces have controlled health policy—and what has it gotten us?
🥤 Ultra-processed foods now make up 57% of the average American’s calorie intake.
📈 Obesity rates have skyrocketed—from 14.5% (1971) to 42.8% (2018).
🪖 77% of Americans are now ineligible for military service due to health issues.
💰 More than 75% of all U.S. health care spending is on people with chronic conditions.
⚠️ More than 7 out of 10 deaths each year are from chronic diseases.
We’re at a crossroads. We can either keep trusting the same failing system—or put true reformers in charge and fight for real change. We say: It’s time to flip the script.
Momentum Is Building: The Market Is Responding, our legislative push is part of a nationwide movement that’s forcing Big Food to change—and fast.
PepsiCo: Just days after the FDA officially banned brominated vegetable oil, Pepsi announced it is accelerating the removal of artificial ingredients across its product lines. In their own words: “We understand that there’s probably going to be a consumer demand for more natural ingredients, and we’re going to be accelerating that transition.”
This follows mounting pressure from state and federal efforts to ban harmful additives like Red Dye #3 and titanium dioxide—already outlawed in Europe and many other countries. Pepsi is racing to keep up as health-conscious consumers demand transparency and safer food. (Read more)
Tyson Foods: Tyson recently announced that it is removing all synthetic dyes from its products by the end of May 2025. CEO Donnie King said the company is “proactively reformulating” its entire product line to meet consumer expectations and stay ahead of FDA scrutiny. This includes removing dyes like Red 40 and Yellow 5 from its meat and prepared food brands. (Read more)
These shifts are a direct result of legislative reform and public pressure. No one’s saying that processed foods are magically becoming healthy—but eliminating some of the worst additives is an important step in protecting families, especially children, from known risks.
SAVE THE DATE
Virtual Town Hall | June 4th | 7:00–8:00 PM
After the legislative session wraps up, Make Texans Healthy Again (MTHA) will be hosting a virtual town hall to share what happened at the Capitol, what it means for Texans, and how we keep the momentum going. Whether you’re new to the movement or already involved, this will be a great opportunity to connect, ask questions, and learn what’s next.
More details and RSVP link coming soon!