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Menu labeling legislation now on governor’s desk
SACRAMENTO September 2, 2008 7:05am 
• Would require calorie info on menu boards • ‘Isn't going to end California's obesity epidemic, but it's a good place to start’ California may become the first state in the nation to require chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus and menu boards.
Legislation (SB 1420 that applies to restaurant chains with 20 or more locations, has been approved by the Assembly and Senate and awaits a decision by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.
That may not come for a while. Mr. Schwarzenegger has vowed to not sign or to veto all legislation until lawmakers send him a state operating budget.
That has not happened and there is no indication of when the warring factions in the Assembly and Senate will agree on a budget.
If signed by the governor, more than 17,000 restaurants in California will be affected by the legislation. The bill provides for a two-year phase-in period – with brochures containing nutritional information, such as the number of calories, grams of saturated fat, grams of carbohydrates and milligrams of sodium, required at the point of sale and drive-throughs beginning July 1, 2009, and posting of calorie information on menus and indoor menu boards beginning January 1, 2011.
“Prominently giving such information to consumers -- before they place an order -- isn't going to end California's obesity epidemic, but it's a good place to start,” says Harold Goldstein of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, a sponsor of the legislation.
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