SALEM — Over the past few years, Oregon legislators have pulled the nationally volatile idea of a tax on soda and sugary drinks into the Capitol chambers.

Like other efforts across the country, one in Oregon in 2011 that would have taxed every ounce of soda half a penny didn’t get traction and was never enacted.

According to one estimate, a tax on soda could bring in millions to Oregon next year alone. But the idea has fallen completely off the table. Proponents of excise taxes on soda and sugary drinks say the idea has been crushed by a well-financed industry that rarely loses battles and apparently hasn’t stopped working to prevent proposals it views as threatening to the industry.

At least one of the Oregon lawmakers who has pushed for taxes on soda says he won’t pick up the fight next session. A leading group is also backing down from the issue. Meanwhile, the beverage industry is doling out cash to nearly every sitting Oregon senator and a majority in the House.

“The fact is I would still support a soda tax because I think symbolically it says the right thing: That Big Gulp isn’t good for your health,” said Rep. Mitch Greenlick. “But I will not be the primary sponsor of a bill this session.”

Greenlick, a Portland Democrat, was the lead sponsor of a 2013 proposal that quickly died, as well as the one in 2011. He also chairs an interim health care committee and has long advocated for higher taxes on goods such as sugary drinks and cigarettes.

The Oregon Soft Drink Association, which gets its money mostly from Coca-Cola and Coke and Pepsi’s local and regional bottling companies, is a very active player in legislative races this year.

The association’s political action committee has not given money to most candidates in tight races. It has also left out some legislators who have sponsored bills that would impose higher taxes on the drinks and some Democrats who sit on health care committees.

The Soft Drink Association, which is associated with the American Beverage Association, also appears to single out leadership.

In the 2008, 2010 and 2012 election seasons, Rep. Tina Kotek, D-Portland, was ignored by the Soft Drink PAC. But in 2013 and 2014, the PAC has given Kotek, now House speaker, five cash donations adding up to $10,000.

The PAC has also recently given big checks to ranking members of the caucuses such as House Republican Leader Mike McLane ($10,000) and Sen. Tim Knopp, R-Bend, ($5,500). Knopp is deputy leader of the Senate Republican caucus.

Knopp said he has always opposed soda and beer and wine taxes.

So far this year, just two sitting senators — Alan Bates and Betsy Close — have been left out. The donations span party affiliations and add up to more than $100,000.

“I think there are broader issues than just tax issues and that drives a lot of our thinking,” Soft Drink Association lobbyist Rob Douglas said.

Douglas said the industry is wary of changes to the state’s bottle deposit bill, which has been expanded in recent years. He also says the amount of money for the political donations has remained stable for the last few years.

Upstream Public Health, which has been a leader in past efforts to raise taxes on what it considers unhealthy drinks, said this week it had moved past the idea of taxing drinks that would include ready-made coffee, energy drinks and sweetened cans of tea, among others.

“I would hypothesize that the beverage industry is reacting to the national conversation about sugary drinks and is trying to take preventative action to ensure that Oregon legislators don’t move in that direction,” said Kasandra Griffin, a policy manager with Upstream.

The issue ebbs every few years. There was talk in Congress of attaching a soda tax to the Affordable Care Act bill that eventually passed without it. Residents in Washington, California and in towns across the country have also voted against taxes specifically on soda.

Taxing sugary drinks just one or two cents per ounce could bring in hundreds of millions of dollars, according to research from the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University. The center estimates a tax in Oregon could bring in $63 million next year.

Griffin said the group is watching a high-stakes battle emerge in two liberal California cities — San Francisco and Berkeley — whose residents will vote on a 1- to 2-cent per ounce soda tax in November.

That fight is considered a potential final front because of the cities’ progressive approach to health policy. The cities are also seeing major cash pouring in to support the efforts to pass and to defeat the measures.

If the measures don’t pass in California, it would be a highly visible defeat to any politician considering a new tax proposal.

Greenlick now says one of his top priorities is a $2-per-pack tax on cigarettes. Other lawmakers who have sponsored soda taxes in the past, such as Rep. Alissa Keny-Guyer, D-Portland, who hasn’t gotten money from the Soft Drink PAC, didn’t respond to requests for comment.

— Reporter: 406-589-4347,

tanderson@bendbulletin.com