Supporters of Proposition 29 have admitted defeat after nearly three weeks of vote counting. The California ballot initiative was designed to raise the tax on cigarette packs by $1 to fund cancer research.
Although the official vote count will not be released until early July, supporters of Prop. 29 have said there are not enough votes remaining to close the 0.3 percent gap, according to a press release from the ‘Yes on 29’ campaign.
The initiative could have generated as much as $855 million by 2012-13 and would have created a nine-person committee to appropriate the tax revenue funds.
“I support Prop. 29 because it is raising cigarette prices which would decrease the number of people who are smoking,” Chloee Farris, a sophomore film and creative writing major, said. “I think smoking is a bad habit and I support increasing funding for life-saving research.”
Joshua Johnston, a sophomore criminal justice major who smokes cigarettes, also supported Prop. 29.
“Anything that helps prevent people from smoking is a good thing to me,” Johnston said. “I definitely feel that a heavy tax of cigarettes would help me quit.”
Opponents of Prop. 29, like sophomore film major Greg Krish, expressed concern over the tax that would increase total cigarette tax in California to $1.87 per pack.
“Prop. 29 has no personal bearing on my decision to smoke,” Krish said. “I’ll quit when I feel like my health is at risk, and when I feel that I no longer need, or even want, to smoke.”
Ranil Weerackoon, a sophomore mathematics major, also opposed Prop. 29.
“Personally I don’t like smoking,” Weerackoon said. “If Prop. 29 would have passed, I think it would not have stopped smokers from smoking because the tax increase proposal was too modest.”
If the ballot initiative had passed, California would have the 16th highest tobacco tax in the United States, at $1.87. The national average for cigarette tax is $1.49, according to tobaccofreekids.org.
Cal State Long Beach’s smoking policy remains the same. No smoking is permitted within 20 feet of building entrances, windows and air intakes on campus.