In the face of a $41 billion statewide obesity epidemic, California Senate Majority Leader Dean Florez today introduced legislation to tax sodas and other sugar-sweetened beverages to fund childhood obesity programs.
The Florez bill would levy a penny for every teaspoon of added sugar in commercial beverages sold. It's estimated the excise tax on beverage distributors would raise $1.5 billion a year for California cities and schools to pay for childhood obesity prevention programs.
A growing body of research highlighting the central role of soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages in driving the obesity epidemic prompted the senator's bill, including a study from one of our client's last year.
"When Michelle Obama introduced her children's health initiative last week she explained that our children didn't do this to themselves," said Dr. Harold Goldstein of the California Center for Public Health Advocacy. "They didn't create an environment where high sugar sodas are the cheapest, easiest drink to find. We did that to them. We have a responsibility to fix it and this bill is the right way to start."
~ Nicole
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