California Ass'n of Retail Tobacconists v. State

In these appeals we consider the constitutionality of Proposition 10, an initiative adopted by the electorate in November 1998, which enacted the California Children and Families Act of 1998 (the Act). The Act increased the tobacco excise tax for the stated purposes of reducing tobacco use, particularly among teenagers, and funded early child development and antismoking programs. It created the statewide California Children and Families Commission (CCFC) and local county commissions to administer its statutory mandates, and added section 130100 et seq. to the Health and Safety Code and section 30131 et seq. to the Revenue and Taxation Code. The California Association of Retail Tobacconists, Inc., and over 20 retail tobacconists (collectively CART), and Cigarettes Cheaper! and the Customer Company (together CC) contend the Act violates the following provisions of the California Constitution: the initiative single-subject limitation (art. II, § 8, subd. (d)); the prohibition on funding private corporations (art. II, § 12); the exclusive state management and control requirement (art. XVI, § 3); the prohibition against delegating the taxing power (art. XI, § 11, subd. (a));…