Alameda County Health Committee Meeting – July 28, 2026
Alameda County Board of Supervisors' Health Committee Meeting – July 28, 2026
The Health Committee met on July 28, 2026 (the agenda listed July 27, 2026, but the user-provided date is used here) to discuss three items: an update on the Healthy Schools and Communities program, a proposed ordinance banning the sale of nitrous oxide for recreational use, and a proposed ordinance banning the sale of kratom and 7-hydroxymitagynine (7-OH) products. The meeting was held at 9:30 a.m. in the Board of Supervisors Chambers and via Zoom. Supervisors Nate Miley (Chair) and Lena Tam were present. The committee advanced the nitrous oxide ordinance to the full Board with a recommendation, and agreed to send the kratom/7-OH ordinance to a Board Planning Committee meeting for further discussion without a recommendation.
Healthy Schools and Communities Update (Informational Item)
- Lisa Erickson, Director of Children and Youth Initiatives, presented a detailed update on the program's work, including the REACH Ashland Youth Center, 28 school health centers, the Youth and Family Opportunity Initiative, the Caminos program for newcomer students, school-based behavioral health, and family engagement efforts.
- Key statistics: school health centers served approximately 15,000 clients with nearly 60,000 visits; 60% client retention; 206 youth in leadership programs; 98% of students agreed the center helped them have somewhere to go for support. The Caminos program served nearly 3,000 newcomer students and trained nearly 100 providers in family emergency preparedness.
- Supervisor Miley noted challenges with sustainability and funding, particularly for the Alameda High School health center and the REACH clinic. The committee discussed the need for better metrics to measure progress toward the program's “North Star” goal of youth self-determination and graduation readiness. Supervisor Miley requested an annual update and additional data on demographics and Medi-Cal enrollment rates.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Item 2 (Nitrous Oxide): Liz Williams, Vice Chair of the Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition, expressed support for the ordinance, citing deceptive packaging and youth appeal. Elvis Perez, a student at College of Alameda, also spoke in support, noting the risks of easy access to nitrous oxide.
- Item 3 (Kratom/7-OH): A large number of public speakers addressed the committee. The majority urged the committee to distinguish between natural leaf kratom and synthetic 7-OH products. Speakers included Jeffrey Laredo (retired NIH policy official, consultant to American Kratom Association), Brandy Clark, Charles Bowden, Camber Garrison (OB nurse), Melody Wolf (daily kratom consumer who spoke at an FDA press conference), Connie Sanford, Stephen Macintosh (chronic pain patient), Ethan (retailer), and others. They argued that natural leaf kratom helps with chronic pain, opioid withdrawal, and anxiety, and that the DEA is about to schedule 7-OH as a Schedule I controlled substance. Several speakers noted that Orange County’s ordinance uses a potency threshold rather than a blanket ban. Liz Williams (Tobacco Control Coalition) and Cyrus Nicaragua (student) spoke in favor of the full ordinance, including the ban on natural leaf kratom, citing the lack of regulation and risk to youth.
Discussion Items
- Item 2: Nitrous Oxide Ordinance – Paul Cummings and Rachel Gratz-Lazarus from the Tobacco Control Program presented the public health concerns: rising emergency room visits and deaths (23 deaths in 2010, 156 in 2023 per CDC), easy availability in smoke shops, and marketing to youth. The proposed ordinance would ban the sale of nitrous oxide and devices for recreational use in unincorporated areas, with exceptions for legal uses (medical, culinary, automotive). Penalties: $250 first violation, $500 second, $1,000 third and subsequent. Enforcement by Community Development Agency (CDA) code enforcement. Supervisors Miley and Tam expressed support but questioned enforcement capacity and requested a future report on impacts. The committee voted to move the ordinance to the full Board.
- Item 3: Kratom/7-OH Ordinance – Same presenters explained that kratom and 7-OH are unregulated opioid-like products, with the FDA warning against use. They noted that California state law considers these adulterated food products, but local enforcement is needed. The proposed ordinance would ban all sales in unincorporated areas, with the same penalty structure. Public comments raised significant opposition to banning natural leaf kratom, citing its benefits and the pending DEA scheduling of 7-OH. County Counsel and Health Officer Dr. Nicholas Moss discussed the legal framework: state law does not distinguish between natural and synthetic forms, and CDPH enforcement would continue regardless of a local ordinance. Supervisor Tam expressed concern about the practicality of enforcement and the lack of clear distinction between product types. Supervisor Miley noted the parallels to medical cannabis and the need for more information. The committee decided to advance the item to a Board Planning Committee meeting (likely in September or October) without a recommendation, allowing time for further input from state officials and the public.
Key Outcomes
- Item 2: The committee voted to recommend the nitrous oxide ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors. It will be scheduled after the August recess, likely on September 15, 2026, and will require two readings.
- Item 3: The committee agreed to send the kratom/7-OH ordinance to a Board Planning Committee meeting (tentatively September 17 or October) without a recommendation. Staff will consider options, including possible amendments to mirror Orange County’s potency threshold approach, and will coordinate with state officials for testimony.
- General: Supervisor Miley requested an annual update on the Healthy Schools and Communities program, including metrics on the North Star outcome. He also asked for a presentation on lead testing in schools, partnering with the Joint Powers Authority for Lead Abatement and the Alameda County Office of Education.
Meeting Transcript
All right, so good morning. Let's call the meeting to order for the Health Board of Supervised Health Committee on July 27th, 2026. Clerk will take the roll. Supervisor Cam. Present. Supervisor Miley. We have a call. Okay, thank you. All right. First item is healthy schools and communities update. There we go. Now you can hear me. Good morning, Supervisor Miley and Supervisor Tam. Good to see you. Thanks for having me this morning. I'm just going to provide a brief update on what's been happening with healthy schools and communities over the last couple of years. You have the slides up. Thanks. The first slide that you can see, that's actually a photo of all of our staff that we took at the Reach Ashland Youth Center this past year. You can see our outfits are color coordinated. I don't know how we manage that. But I'll just I'll jump in. Our our North Star, like what we're really trying to envision with healthy schools and communities is uh that youth embody self-determination and that they graduate from high school equipped with options and they're ready for college and career. And our work is really around uh integrating education and health and making sure that we're looking at the whole child and all aspects of youth and in their communities. Next slide, please. And these are the strategies that we work on, kind of the three big buckets. Uh the first one is around systems building. Um we work a lot with our school districts and community-based organizations, um, increasing their capacity, uh, just making the health and wellness systems work better. One example of this is our coordination of service teams. We've been working on this for several years in Alameda County with community-based organizations and school districts. Um, probably our biggest bucket of work is the school is the youth wellness and leadership. And I'll go into more detail on all of our programs, but um examples are our Reach Ashland Youth Center. We oper, we don't operate, we fund 28 um health centers uh throughout Alameda County. We have our youth family opportunity initiative, our Caminos program, just to name a few of our strategies. And we also do family engagement and support. So we fund um school linked and school-based family resource centers. We work with our family liaisons at school districts. Um we also have some community health workers that work within school districts to help families navigate public systems and connect them to resources. Next slide, please. And the first uh strategy I'm gonna talk about, or actually, I think it goes to the map next. The next slide, yeah, here we go. Um, this just shows that we really are focused on all of our work is focused through an equity lens. And we uh we make sure that all of our programs and services are in the neighborhoods, you know, furthest from opportunity, and where uh our children and families are experiencing the greatest health disparities. And this you can see all the different programs that we have kind of mapped out throughout the county, some of our youth and family opportunity hubs, our school health centers, um, and then the Reach Ashland Youth Center, which is right there in the center of the county in Ashland Cherryland neighborhood. Next slide, please. And just a little bit about reach. Um these are some updates and some of the priority areas that we're working on right now. Uh we've been working a lot around coordination in the unincorporated area, um, focusing on staff and our partner agencies. Uh, we have three, just as some examples. We have three uh reach members right now who are um have voting seats on the Eden Area Community Collaborative.
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