Fizz Running Dry: A New Virginia Soda Regulation


By: Kobe Mora


          Delegate Joshua Payne is pulling no punches as he presents his bill to the Old Dominion Senate. The bill entails a new regulation preventing stores from selling soda to unaccompanied minors and requiring a ID to be provided when completing a sale. Although it is a controversial subject, the bill was able to stay afloat in the first committee meeting. As Delegate Payne puts it “in recent years we have seen a correlation between soda and obesity and type 2 diabetes”. He went on to provide shocking statistics: “20% of Virginians ages 2-4 are obese, the largest in the US” and “13-15% of Virginian high schoolers are obese”. He has a base to move on but can he pull the bill through?

According to Lobbyist Addison Lilley, the plain and simple answer is, no. The lobbyist said: “I think it’s good intentioned but it is not going to solve anything”. The lobbyist also said that “some of these health problems are not caused by soda only, rather a combination of factors.” Lilley is not alone in her beliefs, as the bill itself barely made it to the chamber,r winning by a narrow victory. Delegate Payne is definitely going against the odds as he has to win an uphill battle. There will be some large obstacles in his path, Delegate Payne will have to pull his bill through the chamber against unsupportive delegates and the well-informed lobbyists. Will Delegate Payne’s soda bill pop or will it fizzle out?

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