…and boy, does that drive the Tobacco Companies CRAZY!
SEIU is part of the Save Lives California coalition that is working to protect children from the dangers of smoking. We are pushing to get an initiative on the ballot in November that will place a $2 per pack increase to California’s cigarette tax. The funds raised will be used to prevent smoking addiction among teens and find cures for lung cancer and other tobacco-related diseases.
We can only get this initiative passed if we fight hard.
Tobacco companies get rich selling their cancer-causing products and they don’t like anything to get in their way. They’re even threatening to stop the extension of Proposition 30 – that’s the Proposition that increased taxes on the rich and stopped furloughs and layoffs for Local 99 members. Why would big tobacco companies care about a school funding bill? They don’t. They just want to use this scare tactic to stop anyone from fighting cigarette addiction.
According to the Los Angeles Times, a big tobacco lobbyist sent an email to a Sacramento legislative staffer that said, “When we hit the street with a referendum paying $10 per signature, Prop. 30 is dead as well as $2 a pack tax. We will have every signature gatherer on an exclusive. Just letting you know so you can’t say you were not warned.”
Smoking addiction is the number one cause of preventable death in California. And it really affects young people. Ninety percent of smokers start as teens, according to the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. In California, 21,000 kids get hooked on smoking every year, and half of them will die from tobacco-related illnesses.
Save Lives California is a coalition of doctors, dentists, healthcare workers and advocates dedicated to saving thousands of lives and millions of dollars in California by reducing smoking rates. In addition to SEIU, coalition members include the American Lung Association in California, American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network, the California Medical Association, California Dental Association and Blue Shield of California, among others.
Be sure to register to vote* and to vote “YES!“ on the California Healthcare, Research and Prevention Tobacco Tax Act of 2016.
And join our push to extend the school funding tax on the rich.
*When asked if you want to “Vote by Mail in All Elections”…be sure to answer “YES!” This way you won’t ever miss an election again!
