Proposition 10

California Proposition 10 (1998) is an initiative state constitutional amendment that appeared in the 1998 California General Election. The official name of this amendment is “The Children and Families First Act.” This amendment put a $.50 tax on cigarettes, and even up to $1 on other tobacco products such as chewing tobacco and cigars. The revenue from this tax would go to funding early childhood education in California. The tax went into effect January 1, 1999.

In 1997, Rob Reiner, an actor and director and longtime child advocate, initiated the “I Am Your Child” public awareness campaign to make the welfare of children ages zero to three years a priority for the nation, but without greater measures he felt that the issue would not be addressed properly. Reiner gained support from the American Cancer Society, American Heart Association, and the Lung Cancer Association, all three organizations wanting to reduce the usage of tobacco, to help put Proposition 10 on the California general election ballot in 1998. Rob Reiner recruited Michael Huffington to join him as co-chairman of the campaign. Others that were lined up in support for this proposition were director Steven Spielberg, U.S. Democratic Senator Barbara Boxer, Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, the California Teachers Association, and the California Nurses Association.

This proposition was pushed through because of the growing effort to create a better education and child care for children ages zero to three years. In 1994, Carnegie Corporations issued a report called ‘’”Starting Points: Meeting the needs of our Youngest Children.”’’ This report gave an overall look at the poor education and lack of quality care provided to young children around the country. People began to confront this problem of the connection between the development of children and that quality of care received.

There was an intense opposition to the proposition by the tobacco industry but even with the huge opposing campaign the proposition still passed with just over fifty percent of the California vote. In March 2000 California voters were asked to repeal but there was a seventy percent opposition which reflected a strong anti-tobacco bias and support of early childhood education.

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