Oregon Public Broadcasting

The race is on to try to repeal Washington's new taxes on soda, bottled water, candy, gum and some processed foods. As Austin Jenkins reports, the beverage industry has plenty of money but not a lot of time.

The deadline is less than a month away for initiative sponsors in Washington to submit more than 240,000 valid voter signatures. That's the threshold for forcing a vote on the November ballot.

Opponents of Washington's new tax on soda and other convenience store items are just now ready to hit the streets with their petitions.

But they've got some serious money behind them: more than a million dollars from the American Beverage Association.

Tim Martin with the Washington chapter says this state tax is viewed as a national threat.

Tim Martin: "If we don't draw a line in the sand, then the threat is it would be even significantly more than that across the country. We feel very strongly that this is not a tax that we're willing to accept or take lying down."

Martin expects funding from other industry backers as well. He says the signature gathering firm the campaign has hired is confident it can get the signatures needed in the next twenty plus days.

The taxes were part of a budget-balancing plan passed by legislative Democrats earlier this year.