Washington, D.C., November 7, 2004
- The American Public Health Association awarded its 2004 Distinguished Public Health Legislator of the Year Awards today to U.S. Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., Ohio State Sen. Ray Miller and U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg, D-N.J.
APHA's Executive Board established the awards in 1997 to honor individuals each year at the federal, state or local levels who support public health issues and have taken action in the name of public health. The awards were presented during APHA's 132nd Annual Meeting.
Conyers was honored for his work to reform the nation's health care system. A leader in the push for universal coverage for the past 35 years, Conyers has spearheaded many efforts to make universal health care a reality and to eliminate health disparities.
He is the founder and chairman of the Congressional Universal Health Care Task Force, a 45-member caucus whose mission is to pass universal health care legislation by 2005. He recently introduced the U.S. Health Insurance Act, a Medicare for all single-payer bill that has the endorsement of more than 4,000 physicians. He also introduced the Resident Physician Safety Protection Act designed to reduce the hours that resident physicians work so they can better perform their health care duties.
Conyers was elected in November 2002 to his 19th term in the House, winning 83 percent of the vote in Michigan's 14th Congressional District. He is the second-most senior House member and one of the 13 founding members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Miller's contributions to public health include his work to found and chair the Ohio Commission on Minority Health, efforts to enhance the availability and quality of mental health and drug/alcohol services in Ohio, dedication to the nutritional health of Ohio's school children and continued creation and sponsorship of health parity legislation.
Miller has sponsored some of Ohio's most significant health and human service legislation, including a bill that established a 25-percent set-aside for minority health programs from Ohio's portion of the Tobacco Settlement Agreement and legislation that resulted in the creation of the Ohio Department of Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services.
"He has mastered the skill of walking among kings and keeping the common touch," said Cheryl A. Boyce, MS, executive director of the Ohio Commission on Minority Health. "These results of these gifts and his willingness to share them make him a champion of public health in our legislature and a compassionate advocate for the people."
Miller served in the Ohio House of Representatives for 16 years before being elected to the state Senate in 2002.
Lautenberg is known for his long-standing public health leadership, including championing tobacco control, authoring legislation to protect the environment and ensure public safety, working to improve women's access to reproductive health and co-authoring the landmark Ryan White CARE Act.
Lautenberg led the initiative to ban cigarette smoking on all domestic airline flights. He supports federal funding and full access to health care and prescription drug benefits, gun safety, road safety, crime prevention and a myriad of issues important to public health.
Among his many public health achievements, Lautenberg authored the Domestic Violence Gun Ban, which protects women and children by preventing those convicted of domestic violence from owning firearms. His work to protect the environment has included sponsoring legislation giving citizens the right to know the amount and time of toxic emissions found in their communities and laws leading to cleaner water, air and drinking water. Lautenberg served in the Senate from 1982 until his retirement in 2001, then was re-elected in 2003.