Multnomah County Soda Tax Ballot Title Filed by County Attorney

MULTNOMAH COUNTY, OR – Local health advocates have taken aim at reducing the amount of sugary drinks consumed by local kids and adults by filing a prospective ballot initiative to tax sodas and other sugar-heavy beverages in Multnomah County.

The county attorney’s office on Thursday filed the ballot title with the county elections office, setting in motion the seven-day period for opponents to file challenges against the petition’s language.

Elections spokesman Eric Sample told Patch Friday that based on this specific initiative’s history, county residents can expect challenges to be filed before the April 24 deadline.

The question is whether the county should impose a $0.015 (1.5-cent) per ounce excise tax on the distribution of sugar sweetened beverage products, with collected revenues going toward health and education programs for kids. That's roughly 18 cents for every 12-ounce soda, or about $1 for a 2-liter.

Should the ordinance be enacted, it would become effective Jan. 1, 2018. Tax collection would begin July 1, 2018. But before any of that even becomes a possibility, petition proponents need to gather 17,381 valid signatures from actively registered voters before early July 2017.

The deadline to file the initiative petition is Aug. 10, but county signature checkers require at least 30 days to verify signature validity, Sample said.

After the challenge period has concluded or a judge has made changes to the ballot language, petitioners are typically given six months to gather the signatures needed to put the initiative on the ballot –– making advocates’ desire to see this specific ordinance on the November ballot all the more challenging.

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