When the legislative session wrapped up last week, nearly 300 bills were sent to the governor’s desk for a final decision. Among them is a mixed bag of health-related proposals targeting age brackets ranging from children and teens to kupuna.

Under Senate Bill 549, which aims to discourage consumption of soda and other sugary drinks among young people, restaurants that offer kids-meal combos will be required to promote water, unflavored milk or 100% fruit or vegetable juice as the default drink option.

SB 549 avoids the over-protection of “nanny state” legislation by stopping short of banning high-sugar, nutrition-free drinks from the kids’ menu. Instead, the customer would have to ask for such a drink. A similar bill was passed last year in California, the first state to enact such a law. Also, various big brands such as McDonald’s, Subway and Burger King have stopped offering soda as the default beverage.

For the sake of fending off largely preventable problems such as type 2 diabetes and tooth decay, Gov. David Ige should sign this bill. Prediabetes and type 2 diabetes affect nearly 600,000 people in Hawaii — roughly 1 in 2 residents — and Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders are two times more likely to have diabetes than other ethnic groups here.

Senate Bill 1405 requires public school educators to confiscate electronic cigarettes from students, and tasks the state Health Department with establishing a “safe harbor program” for youths to dispose of e-cigs and related paraphernalia.

E-cigs are pitched by their makers as a helpful — albeit unregulated — product for adult smokers trying to kick a tobacco habit. And it can be argued that it’s unfair to categorize vaping’s e-liquid as a tobacco product.

They’re not the same in that vape products contain no tobacco. Clearly, though, they are similar in that both can be used for nicotine delivery that can touch off addiction. Further, it’s wholly alarming that the U.S. surgeon general is calling e-cig use among youth an “epidemic.”

SB 1405 is a worthy health-focused step. However, the bill would have been much more effective had it not been stripped of provisions to: apply an excise tax to disposable electronic smoking devices and vape liquids; require licensing and permitting for wholesalers and retailers; create online shipment restrictions to consumers; and assign a slice of the tax revenues for Hawaii Tobacco Prevention and Control Trust Fund’s health education efforts.

Also disappointing was the Legislature’s failure to approve a bill banning sale and distribution of flavored “e-juice” vaping products, which include nicotine-infused chemical solutions. These candy-store fragrant liquids, with names like “Bubble Pop” and “Peanut Butter Cup,” are likely a main reason why kids start vaping.

The state’s 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that in our public schools, about 1 in 4 high schoolers and 1 in 6 middle schoolers used e-cigs that year. In Hawaii, the age limit for both e-cigs and tobacco cigarettes is 21. Next year, lawmakers should support more assertive steps to discourage vaping among youth.

Among the commendable measures approved for kupuna is House Bill 468, which appropriates $550,000 to re-establish the Healthy Aging Partnership Program. It offers Better Choices Better Health (Ke Ola Pono) and EnhanceFitness courses. Established in in 2003, the program lost funding last year.

Expect to see more demand for enrollment in coming years. Next year, according to state projections, 1 in 4 Hawaii residents will be at least 60 years old; and by 2035, 1 in 3.

These and other state-supported efforts stressing healthful habits and disease prevention bring welcome benefits — for well-being and to pocketbooks.