American Beverage Association

A study on the effects of Berkeley’s soda tax found that the tax has discouraged residents from purchasing sugar-sweetened beverages, but it hasn’t negatively impacted the local businesses that sell it.

A recent study by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, or CSPI, reported that the American Beverage Association, PepsiCo Inc. and Coca-Cola have spent about $67 million since 2009 to oppose soda taxes and warning labels in 19 cities and states.

Oakland Vice Mayor Annie Washington announced plans Thursday to try to implement a tax on sugar-sweetened beverage distributors in the city of Oakland — more than a year after Berkeley made history as the first city in the country to pass a similar tax.

A study released Wednesday found that the retail price of sugar-sweetened beverages in Berkeley increased more than in nearby cities after Berkeley residents voted in November to tax these beverages.

Finance committees for the ballot measures of last November’s elections ultimately spent more than $3 million, according to campaign disclosure documents filed this month.

Election Day in Berkeley this year saw the impacts of the more than $1 million poured into the city’s most contentious measures — although the final votes yielded mixed results for the election’s biggest spenders.

On Tuesday Berkeley citizens will decide whether the city will be the first in the nation to impose a tax on distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages. If passed, the proposed ordinance would impose a tax of one cent per ounce on the distributors of sugar-sweetened beverages.

With less than three weeks until Berkeley voters decide on Measure D, former New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg donated $85,000 to the Yes on Measure D campaign Wednesday.

A beverage trade association funneled $600,000 last week into a local campaign against a proposed city “soda tax” — bringing its total contributions to $1.4 million.

A political action committee for the American Beverage Association, a trade organization that represents U.S. beverage companies, poured half a million dollars last week into the fight against a proposed soda tax in the city of Berkeley.