California bows to beverage industry, blocks soda taxes

[ansible]

A new push by the beverage industry is slowing the expansion of soda taxes in California and elsewhere. California cities pioneered soda taxes as a way to combat obesity, diabetes and heart disease, but the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday bowed to pressure from beverage companies and reluctantly banned local taxes on soda for the next 12 years.

It follows similar bans recently passed in Arizona and Michigan. Voters in Oregon will decide on a statewide ban in November. The American Beverage Association, which represents Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and others, has backed the moves after several cities passed taxes on sugary drinks in recent years.

California’s ban is part of a last-minute maneuver to block a beverage industry-backed ballot measure that would make it much harder for cities and counties to raise taxes of any kind. The ABA said in a statement the legislation is about keeping groceries, including drinks, affordable. Lawmakers approved the proposal despite deep reluctance.

“This industry is aiming a nuclear weapon at government in California and saying, ‘If you don’t do what we want we are going to pull the trigger and you are not going to be able to fund basic government services,’” said Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat from San Francisco, which has a soda tax.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/heart-health/california-bows-beverage-industry-blocks-soda-taxes-n887796

[BigmanPigman]

1. I have been seeing TV ads in CA

about fighting improving homes and they are sponsored by Sherwin Williams paints. I was confused until I learned that there is a law that is making the paint companies remove the lead in old paint in homes and this is how the paint companies are fighting paying for it. Money talks loud and clear!

....."The deceptively titled Healthy Homes and Schools Act is in fact a super-sneaky attempt by major paint companies to avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in remediation for selling people products with toxic levels of lead.
What the signature gatherer won't say is that the paint companies would rather stick you with the tab instead.
"The companies knew their paint had lead in it and they sold it anyway," Carrillo said. "They're putting profits over people."
So the firms came up with a new plan: leave taxpayers holding the bag.
The companies — Sherwin-Williams, Conagra and NL Industries, none of which are based in California — hired a bunch of local lobbyists and ponied up $2 million apiece to concoct the Healthy Homes and Schools Act, which they hope to qualify for the November ballot.
If passed, it would get them off the hook for the lawsuit's hefty remediation by having the state issue $2 billion in bonds to cover a more comprehensive cleanup that would include mold, asbestos and other issues, along with toxic paint.
The initiative is dressed up in all sorts of sympathetic causes, such as concern about affordable housing and a shortage of rental properties.

http://www.latimes.com/business/lazarus/la-fi-lazarus-lead-paint-ballot-initiative-20180330-story.html

[gratuitous]

2. Okay, it's a setback

Let's come back next election cycle and go at it again. You think the folks who want to control women gave up years ago when Roe v. Wade was decided? Nope. They kept trying to screw the system for decades. Their goal is within reach. We need the same perseverance as these assholes. Can we do it for the issues important to us?