Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
State Capitol Building
Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: AB 417—VETO

Dear Governor Schwarzenegger:

A bill that would deny California $40 million in annual revenue and contribute to our state’s underage drinking problem warrants a thorough public debate. Assembly Bill 417 ( Aghazarian) was “gutted and amended” and rushed through the Legislature to avoid just such scrutiny.

You have said that there is “no such thing as democracy in the dark” and that you would not sign bills that were “passed in the middle of the night.” AB 417 has earned your veto on these grounds alone. But there are at least two other good reasons to stop this bill: your veto would protect youth by supporting community efforts to prevent underage drinking and increase California tax revenue by $40 million a year.

Changing the definition of beer to include flavored malt beverages is a major policy decision with far reaching implications for alcohol availability and the serious problem of underage drinking. Enacting AB 417 without due consideration of its negative impacts would be a disservice to all Californians.

Flavored malt beverages (such as Smirnoff Ice, Bacardi Silver, Skyy Blue, and Mike’s Hard Lemonade) are major contributors to the public health and safety crisis of underage drinking. Researchers estimate that underage drinking costs Californians more than $7 billion a year through alcohol-involved youth violence, car crashes, suicides, academic failure, and other tragedies. These so-called “alcopops” are more popular among youth, especially teenage girls, than among consumers of legal drinking age and are fast becoming the drink of choice for underage drinkers. California should maintain current law classifying flavored malt beverages as distilled spirits—not as beer—and tax them accordingly. The higher tax rate and stricter distribution regulations imposed on distilled spirits would limit “alcopop” availability to underage drinkers who are known to be sensitive to alcohol price increases.

Please keep your promise, protect California youth, and help balance the state budget – veto AB 417.

Sincerely,
(Your Name)
(Address)
(Phone Number)

Download a Microsoft Word Version of this sample letter of opposition to AB 417