3/11/18 The web site for the Illinois Coalition Against Beverage Taxes is up and running!
From Tim Bramlet ***IMPORTANT***
The web site for the Illinois Coalition Against Beverage Taxes is up and running!
With it, your members and employees can very easily access their legislators and send them a message to oppose the proposed beverage tax. All they have to do is click on the link and provide some limited information to become a “member” of the coalition.
We want to flood the General Assembly starting this week with messages from your constituents in opposition to the tax. Let’s stop this thing before it gets any momentum. I have attached a brief fact sheet which you can use, discard or modify as you see fit. The main focus is to get the link to the web site and facebook page out there so legislators hear about the overwhelming opposition to the tax…and the sooner the better.
We should know by early next week if the bill will be headed to a Senate committee, and which committee. We are targeting members of three committees to make sure we have the “No” votes to stop the tax there, and I may be contacting you to talk to some of those members later today.
Thanks for your continued help in this. And please call if you have any questions.
Regards,
Tim Bramlet
Illinois Beverage Association and Illinois Coalition Against Beverage Taxes
Oppose Senate Bill 3524 (Sen. Mattie Hunter, D-Chicago)
House Bill 5690 (Rep. Robyn Gabel, D-Evanston)
Would place a new unfair tax on the purchase of soda and other beverages
Two Illinois lawmakers have proposed imposing a tax of a penny per ounce on all sugar-sweetened beverages sold in Illinois.
Your customers would be forced to pay $1.44 more for a 12-pack of soda and up to 50 percent more for a two-liter bottle!
According to the USDA, all sugar-sweetened beverages account for only a small portion (6 percent) of calories in the average diet. Yet these lawmakers think this new tax will “end obesity.”
If we want to get serious about obesity, it starts with education – not laws and regulation.
This tax would jeopardize many good-paying jobs in the beverage industry and thousands more in retail stores and restaurants throughout our state.
Politicians should focus on what matters most – education, jobs and the economy – and let us run our own businesses.
Tell your representative and senator to do their job and leave the grocery shopping to us!
There are two things you can do to help us right away:
- like us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/NoIllinoisBeverageTax
- sign the petition and send an email to your legislator at: www.NoILBeverageTax.com
3/11/18 From Vending Market Watch – FDA Further Delays Calorie Disclosure, NAMA Believes Final Rule To Come In 2014
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has missed another of its self-imposed deadlines in finalizing the calorie disclose rules required under the Affordable Care Act, according to the National Journal. Guidelines were expected by the end of February, however, the agency did not disclose the new regulations. Full article.
However, many believe a rule will be finalized this year. In a recent email to members, NAMA stated: “It is now the belief of NAMA’s Government Affairs Division that Calorie Disclosure Rules for Vending Machines will be released by the FDA — along with the final regulations for Restaurant Menu Labeling — by the end of 2014.”