Voters in three cities in California — San Francisco, Oakland and Albany — will vote on soda tax referendums in the Nov. 8 general election, a potential landmark in the campaign against high-calorie sugary beverages. On the same day, Oklahomans will decide whether to add a right-to-farm amendment to their state constitution, as insulation against “deep-pocketed animal rights groups,” according to ag groups.
At the start of the fall campaign season, state and local referendums on food and agriculture show a distinctly urban and rural split in view. A handful of urbanized areas will vote on soda taxes and animal welfare language. Conversely, Kansas and Indiana will vote on constitutional amendments that guarantee the right to hunt and fish. And Montanans will vote on an initiative to ban recreational and commercial trapping on public lands.
Oklahoma’s referendum is the third time since 2012 that a state has voted on a constitutional right to farm. North Dakota approved a right-to-farm amendment in a landslide in 2012 and Missouri approved its amendment by a razor-thin margin in 2014. Farm groups, notably the state Farm Bureau, spearheaded the drive in all three states.
In an appeal to the two-thirds of Oklahomans who live in cities and towns, the umbrella group Oklahoma’s Right to Farm says the amendment “protects consumer choice” by letting farmers and ranchers decide which production methods work best for them, ultimately holding down food prices. The amendment would pre-empt animal-rights campaigners and anti-GMO activists.
Opponents include the Oklahoma Municipal League, which says the amendment “is a threat to public water supply systems from both a quality and quantity perspective” and the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), which has organized state-level campaigns against sow crates, veal-calf stalls and battery cages for chickens.
While Oklahoma votes on its amendment, Massachusetts will decide a voter initiative on confinement space for farm animals. The HSUS was the largest donor by far, giving $1 million of the $1.4 million raised as of Aug 15 in support of the referendum. There was no organized fundraising against the proposal, said Ballotpedia. The state is heavily urbanized and has a comparatively small farm sector.
The Massachusetts proposal would prohibit sale of eggs, veal or pork, whether produced in the state or outside of it, from animals not allowed enough room to stand up, lie down, turn around or extend their limbs. Egg farmers and other farm groups say the initiative, if enacted, will drive up the price of groceries. Animal welfare groups say it will end practices that amount to cruelty.
California’s Bay Area is the hotbed for soda taxes. Notoriously liberal Berkeley was the first U.S. city to adopt a soda tax with voter approval of a 1-cent-per-fluid-ounce levy on sugary beverages in 2014. The tax was framed as a public health response to the obesity epidemic. The Philadelphia City Council changed the argument in June when it approved a 1.5-cent-per-ounce tax on soda, including diet sodas, as a way to raise revenue for pre-kindergarten and other city services.
San Francisco, Oakland and Albany will vote on 1-cent soda tax modeled on Berkley’s successful proposal, with a majority vote needed for passage. San Francisco, with 856,000 residents, is the fourth-largest city and Oakland, with 431,000 people, is the eighth-largest city in California. Albany has nearly 19,000 residents. Berkeley has a population of nearly 119,000.
“Frequent sips of soda can damage health and impose social costs,” said a San Francisco Chronicle editorial over the weekend in endorsing passage of the referendums. “That’s why it’s wise to back a tax on sugar-laced sodas, sports and energy drinks that will drive down consumption and pay for the public damage.”
The beverage industry has reserved $9.5 million in TV air time in the Bay Area ahead of the Nov. 8 vote, said Politico. The industry is likely to out-spend tax proponents by a large margin.
San Francisco voted on a soda tax, with results that can be interpreted both ways. The referendum failed to reach the two-thirds majority for passage but, with a 55 percent majority, attracted more than enough votes to pass this time. That’s because the current referendum is designed to pass on a simple majority.
In Boulder, Colo., a proposed 2-cent tax on soda and other sugary beverages is under challenge, said the Daily Camera newspaper. The City Council recommended the referendum for the Nov. 8 ballot but “frequent Boulder government critic Mark Gelband, with the backing of the Colorado Beverage Association,” says the proposal, the fruit of a petition drive, did not include a provision to raise taxes, required under the state’s taxpayer bill of rights. Council members “were primed to approve” ballot language by Friday that would include the language, said the Daily Camera.
“Many believed the American and Colorado beverage associations … would file to prevent the initiative from reaching the ballot.”
Meanwhile, some 19 states have amended their constitutions to include guarantees of the right to hunt and fish, says Governing magazine. The referendums in Indiana and Kansas are the latest in a drive than began in 1996. Like other states, the referendums would name hunting and fishing as the preferred means of wildlife management. Texas added a hunting-and-fishing amendment to its constitution in 2015.
Relatively small amounts of money have been spent on the Montana referendum on trapping. The initiative is backed by the group Footloose Montana, which tried to get a similar proposal on the ballot in 2014.