State lawmakers will introduce five bills Wednesday aimed at reducing the consumption of soda or other sugary drinks in an effort to eliminate what they think contributes to a host of health problems.
The first bill calls for capping the size of sugary drinks in unsealed containers, restaurants and grocery stores at 16 fluid ounces to deal with the supersize phenomenon of the average soda.
The second bill calls for the labeling of sugary drinks with health risk warnings similar to tobacco products.
A third bill wants to prohibit supermarkets, convenience stores and retail stores from placing the drinks near the checkout counter claiming soda companies pay “prime money” for the placement because it works.
The fourth bill bars soda companies from offering promo deals to lower the price of these typed of drinks to consumers.
The fifth and last bill wants a tax on the drinks to pay for programs to offset the health effects of drinking sugary drinks.
Lawmakers introduced at least 11 of these bills in the past decade, most of them failing.
If this one fails as well, they’ll make another push in 2020.
