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A new push by the beverage industry is slowing the expansion of soda taxes in California and elsewhere. California cities pioneered soda taxes as a way to combat obesity, diabetes and heart disease, but the Legislature and Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday bowed to pressure from beverage companies and reluctantly banned local taxes on soda for the next 12 years. (6/28)

The law, signed by Governor Jerry Brown as a compromise in the face of a soda industry-backed ballot initiative, prevents any local government from imposing future taxes on groceries including carbonated and noncarbonated nonalcoholic beverages through 2030. So-called soda taxes gained traction in the San Francisco area in 2014 and 2016. (Prentice, 6/28)

“The industry is aiming basically a nuclear weapon at government in California and saying, ‘If you don’t do what we want, we’re going to pull the trigger and you’re not going to be able to fund basic government services,'” said state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco). “This is a ‘pick your poison’ kind of a situation, a Sophie’s Choice, if you will.” (Young, 6/28)