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A very important piece of legislation is currently being considered by the California State Assembly that places a fee on alcohol drinks.  Tarzana Treatment Centers supports the position paper below by the Marin Institute.  This is a fair and reasonable fee that will help those in need of alcohol and drug treatment and improve the California economy.  Please find your California State Representatives here and contact them expressing your support for AB 1019.

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The Alcohol Related Services Act (AB 1019) is a bill authored by Assembly Member Jim Beall (D – San Jose). The legislation establishes the Alcohol-Related Services Program (ARS Program) within the California Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs.

WHY AN ALCOHOL FEE?

• Published research has shown that alcohol causes more than $38 billion in harm annually.  Of this amount, approximately $8 billion is paid for by the California government (by both state and county agencies).
• The ARS program is specifically designed to mitigate the enormous social and economic harm caused by alcohol sales in California. The bill would assess a mitigation fee (not a tax) on spirits, wine and beer, equivalent to 10 cents a drink for beer, wine, and all spirits.
• Because the bill creates a fee program, only a majority vote of both houses is required, with the Governor’s signature. This mitigation fee, or charge for harm, will generate approximately $1.4 billion to pay for alcohol-related services in California.
• Currently, the alcohol industry bears no economic responsibility for the problems its products cause. California lags in charging for alcohol harm compared to the progress made in tobacco control over the last 40 years. Most of the fees will be paid by the heaviest alcohol producers, which are foreign corporations such as Anheuser-Busch InBev, SAB Miller, and Diageo.

WHAT WILL THE FEE PAY FOR?

The ARS Program consists of five equally funded alcohol-related component services to mitigate the harm of alcohol sales in the following categories.

1. Treatment and Recovery
2. Emergency Room and Trauma
3. Hospitalization and Rehabilitation
4. Criminal Justice and Enforcement
5. Prevention, Education, and Research

The Department of Alcohol and Drug Programs will hold public hearings and create guidelines for component services through grants or contracts within four months of the bill’s passage.  New or existing programs will be funded.

For Instance, the ADP might create a $300 million annual program for hospitals to be reimbursed for uncompensated care to indigent people for alcohol-related emergency room admissions.  Many treatment and recovery programs will be fully funded.  Criteria of need, effectiveness and best practices will be used by ADP as guidance in creating service components.

— Source: http://www.marininstitute.org/site/images/stories/pdfs/ab1019.pdf —

Tarzana Treatment Centers in Los Angeles makes a daily effort to find treatment news articles that we can share with our readers in the alcohol and drug treatment community.  The external content was found among other articles of equal informational and educational quality.

Southern California Locations for Alcohol and Drug Treatment
Tarzana Treatment Centers has locations all over Southern California in Los Angeles County and Orange County. Other than our central location in Tarzana, we have facilities in Lancaster in the Antelope Valley, Long Beach, in Northridge and Reseda in the San Fernando Valley, and in Santa Ana.