Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Boulder, Colo., And Three California Cities OK Soda Tax
After the most expensive campaign this city has ever seen, Boulder voters made clear their support for the hotly contested ballot issue 2H, which will install a tax on distributors of soda and other sugary beverages. ... the passage of 2H means a 2-cents-per-fluid-ounce excise tax on distributors of beverages with at least 5 grams of added sugar per 12 ounces. The tax approved in Berkeley, plus the three Bay Area taxes on Tuesday's ballot, were all half as harsh, with just a penny-per-ounce levy. (Burness, 11/8)
Oakland and San Francisco are poised to become the largest cities in the country to approve such a tax and open the door for other cities to replicate their campaigns. And in tiny Albany, voters resoundingly approved the tax. They will join Berkeley, which two years ago became the nation鈥檚 first city to pass a sugar-sweetened beverage tax. (Debolt, 11/9)
Three Bay Area cities on Tuesday became among the first in the country to levy a tax on sodas and other sugary drinks in an effort to help stanch the nation鈥檚 diabetes and obesity epidemics. (Knight, 11/8)
San Francisco, Oakland and Albany voters have passed soda taxes in each city by a wide margin. San Francisco now becomes the largest city on the West Coast to approve a levy on distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages. (Romero, 11/9)