Colorado Tobacco Tax Initiative / Fair Share for Health Committee, 1991-1994, n.d.

Summary

Title:

Colorado Tobacco Tax Initiative / Fair Share for Health Committee,

Dates:

1991-1994, n.d.

Creators:

Colorado Tobacco Tax Initiative / Fair Share for Health Committee.

Language:

English.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Colorado Tobacco Tax Initiative / Fair Share for Health Committee, MSS 96-45, Archives & Special Collections, UCSF Library & CKM

Background

Scope and content:

This collection is comprised of photocopies of documents covering the campaign to pass an increase of the tobacco tax in Colorado through an amendment to the Colorado State Constitution. Most of the materials were generated by the Fair Share for Health Committee (FSHC) and Arnold Levinson, the Executive Director of the Committee.

The collection includes court records, correspondence, publicity materials, budgets and other financial documents, drafts of the amendment, the initiative petition and ballot statement, as well as fundraising and volunteer materials.

The records in this collection deal primarily with the final drive by the FSHC to get the amendment on the 1994 ballot, and include court records and correspondence documenting the several legal challenges against Amendment 1 by the pro-tobacco faction.

Other materials in the collection document FSHC's response to a claim by a pro-tobacco source that the cigarette tax would be used to pay for abortions. Organizational and campaign planning materials make up the remainder of the collection. Planning materials include a campaign agenda, reports from a planning retreat and focus groups, budgets and other financial documents. Other basic organizational documents include articles of incorporation, bylaws, agendas and minutes for FSHC. Media and development materials document fundraising, volunteer recruitment and coalition building, and include press releases, ad copy and speaker packets. There is also one folder containing material prepared by the Colorado Secretary of State about the initiative process.

The records in this collection are arranged alphabetically by subject.

Custodial history:

The Colorado Tobacco Tax Initiative / Fair Share for Health Committee records were given to the Tobacco Control Archives by Dr. Stanton A. Glantz.

Physical location:

For current information on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Physical description:

Number of containers: 1 carton Linear feet: approx. 1

Related resources

Other descriptive data:

Most anti-tobacco legislation in Colorado has been done on the local level. In 1987, the Fair Share for Health Committee (FSHC), whose major donors included the American Cancer Society, the American Heart Association, and the American Lung Association, began a statewide campaign to increase the cigarette tax by fifty cents per pack. Due to legal challenges by the tobacco industry, however, the initiative did not make it on to the ballot until 1994 as Amendment 1.

FSHC's campaign faced intense opposition from the tobacco industry, lead by the Citizens Against Tax Abuse and Government Waste and the Colorado Executive Committee, both heavily subsidized by the tobacco industry. [Note: Fred M. Monardi,Amanda O'Neill,and Stanton A. Glanz.Tobacco Industry Political Activity in Colorado 1979-1995 (San Francisco: Institute for Health Policy Studies University of California), 1996.In addition to challenging the wording of the amendment's title, summary, and analysis, the pro-tobacco faction charged that FSHC and KOA (a Denver radio station) had engaged in bribery by offering baseball tickets to signers of initiative petitions, and made allegations that FSHC had received illegal in-kind donations from state employees and departments (including the Colorado Department of Health). On its side, FSHC's filed a complaint against R.J. Reynolds over an advertisement paid for by the tobacco company.

Amendment 1 was defeated in November 1994, having received only 38.5 percent of the vote.

About this collection guide

Collection Guide Author:

Processed by Julia Bazar; machine-readable finding aid created by Hernán Cortés

Date Prepared:

© 1998

Date Encoded:

Machine-readable finding aid derived from MS Word. Date of source: August 1997.

Restrictions:

Collection is open for research.

Terms of access:

Copyright has not been assigned to the Library & Center for Knowledge Management. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Head of Archives & Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the Library & Center for Knowledge Management as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item], Colorado Tobacco Tax Initiative / Fair Share for Health Committee, MSS 96-45, Archives & Special Collections, UCSF Library & CKM

Location of this collection:

UC San Francisco, Tobacco Control Archives

UCSF Library & CKM Archives and Special Collections, 530 Parnassus Avenue

San Francisco, CA 94143-0840, US

Contact:

libraryasc@ucsf.edu

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