WHEREAS, Diabetes is a chronic disease that affects millions of Americans. Approximately 8,000 Californians die from the disease each year; and

WHEREAS, Between 90 and 95 percent of adults diagnosed with diabetes have type II, which is preventable. Fifteen and one-half million adults in California–– about 55 percent–– have diabetes or prediabetes; and

WHEREAS, Nearly one in three adults in California have prediabetes, which can lead to severe complications like amputations, kidney failure, blindness, and heart disease, yet only 10 percent of these individuals are aware that they have prediabetes. These serious complications disproportionately affect poor communities and communities of color; and

WHEREAS, One in two African American and Latino children born after the year 2000 will develop type II diabetes in his or her life time, 51 percent of Asian Americans with type II diabetes remain undiagnosed, and deaths associated with diabetes are two times higher among African Americans and Latinos than among non-Hispanic whites; and

WHEREAS, California has the largest population with diabetes in the nation. Early diagnosis and treatment can improve an individual’s odds in avoiding diabetes; and

WHEREAS, Diabetes has a severe financial impact on those individuals diagnosed with the disease. People diagnosed with diabetes assume an average of $13,700 in medical expenses annually, which is about 2.3 times higher than the expenses for people without diabetes; and

WHEREAS, Government insurance provides 62.4 percent of the cost for diabetes care in the United States and total related costs for the treatment of diabetes in California alone are approximately $27.5 billion each year; and

WHEREAS, Thirty-one percent of Californians admitted to hospitals in 2011 had diabetes, with even higher rates among admitted Latino patients at 43 percent, Native American patients at 40 percent, African American patients at 39 percent, and Asian Pacific Islander patients at 38 percent. Each of those hospitalizations cost almost $2,200 more than for patients without diabetes; and

WHEREAS, Investing in programs to address the root causes of diabetes can improve an individual’s odds in preventing the disease through education; and

WHEREAS, Access to open space, parks, physical activities, clean drinking water, affordable healthy food, and limiting harmful marketing of junk food and products is necessary to combat this disease; now, therefore, be it