Last week, the California Senate approved five different anti-tobacco measures as part of a special session on health. The measures included raising the minimum age to purchase tobacco in California, classifying e-cigarettes as tobacco products, allowing local municipalities to impose additional taxes on tobacco products and others. Those proposals will soon head to Gov. Jerry Brown for his signature to approve the changes, but not before hints a political slugfest. As reported by The Sacramento Bee, an email from George Miller, a hired lobbyist who is known to work for tobacco giant Altria, has threatened to derail other non-tobacco proposals in California unless changes are made to the proposed tobacco laws. Like most states, California allows for certain ballot measures to get onto the general election ballot if they receive enough signatures. What’s particularly different about California is that there is usually a high number of measures that make it onto ballot even if the process of getting them there can be a bit challenging. In California, there are only a few firms that can collect verified signatures in a manner that survives challenges from opponents. These firms oftentimes get charge special interest groups and others $1-2 per signature they get for a certain issue and it ...
↧