Support SB 1210 (Florez), May 12th in Senate Rev & Tax Cmte
Dear Senator Galgiani,
I am writing to urge you to support SB 1210 (Florez) when it comes before you in the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee on May 12th. SB 1210 (Florez) would fund critical childhood obesity prevention efforts with a penny per teaspoon of added sugar tax on soda and other sugar sweetened beverages.
Childhood obesity has become an epidemic in the United States and is the primary cause of type 2 diabetes and other long-term health problems. Since 1980, the number of obese children in the US has more than tripled, and obesity now rivals smoking as the largest cause of preventable death and disease. If the current obesity trends are not reversed, it is predicted that one in three children—and nearly half of Latino and African American children—born in the year 2000 will develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetime.
In the last 30 years, the average American’s daily caloric intake has increased by nearly 300 calories and 43% of those additional calories come from additional soda consumption. Where soda was once a special treat, it has now become a part of our children’s daily diets. Last year a study released by the California Center for Public Health Advocacy and the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research found that 41% of children ages 2-11 and 62% of adolescents ages 12-17 consume at least one soda or other sugar-sweetened beverage every day, even though a child’s risk of obesity increases an average of 60% with each additional daily serving of soda.
Our children and our state deserve better. It is time for the makers of sugar sweetened beverages to pay their fair share for their role in California’s obesity epidemic. At a rate of a penny per teaspoon of added sugar, SB 1210 will raise $1.5 billion a year to help local schools and communities implement effective strategies to keep our children active and healthy. I urge your support.
Sincerely,
Your name and address here
