SACRAMENTO — The state's leading advocates for dealing with heart disease and cancer joined Democratic lawmakers Thursday to challenge fitness champion Arnold Schwarzenegger to put his signature where his good intentions are in fighting obesity.

The California chapters of the American Heart Association and American Cancer Society threw their support behind a proposal to send back to Schwarzenegger a bill he vetoed last year — one seeking to require chain restaurants to list nutritional information for each offering on menus or menu boards.

"It is an important tool to empower people," said Dr. Diane Sobkowicz, speaking for the Heart Association. "This will be key to combating the obesity epidemic."

The measure by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Los Angeles, is identical to one Schwarzenegger rejected last fall. It would apply to any restaurant with at least 14 outlets in the state. In his veto message, the governor called the proposal "impractical" and asked the restaurant industry to voluntarily come up with other ideas "to promote healthy dining."

Padilla said nothing has changed since the veto except for the fact that about 60,000 more Californians have become obese. "The problem is not going away," he said. "It's getting worse."

The California Obesity Plan produced by the Schwarzenegger administration in 2006 included a proposal that restaurants "post calorie information per serving on all menus and menu boards." Padilla said his revised bill will give the governor "a second chance to live up to a commitment."

Getting the bill back to the governor's desk will be no easy task: Last year, it passed the Senate by only a single vote.

Schwarzenegger has talked often about the obesity epidemic and has taken several steps designed to encourage more healthy lifestyles, particularly in children.

He signed legislation last year that will prohibit schools from selling or serving foods with artificial trans fat and provided additional funding to encourage schools to hire more physical education teachers, for example. Health advocates said it's now time for Schwarzenegger to take the next step by standing up to lobbyists from the California Restaurant Association.

"There is consensus among Californians on this issue," said Amanda Purcell, policy director for the California Center for Public Health Advocacy. She cited results of a poll commissioned by the California Endowment that 69 percent of state voters believe that government is doing too little to combat what voters perceive to be the most important health issue facing children today.

State health officials estimate that one-third of California's children and one-fourth of teenagers are overweight or obese. Nationally, they note that the percentage of overweight teens has tripled over the last 20 years.

"Today's children could become the first in modern history to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents," Purcell said.

Sobkowicz, a cardiologist, said she tells patients how much salt and cholesterol they can safely consume daily, but they are helpless to try to heed that advice when they eat at a restaurant. "People eat more and consume more calories when they eat out," she said.

The Restaurant Association launched a campaign last fall to urge Schwarzenegger to veto last year's bill, telling members to write the governor and advising them that although the measure applied only to chain restaurants, "it is only a matter of time until the concept will be expanded to all restaurants in California."

Assemblyman Mark DeSaulnier, D-Martinez, a co-author of the bill, said he hopes to work with his former colleagues in the restaurant industry in hopes of arriving at a proposal that the industry can support.