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Officials in Los Angeles are keeping an eye on a controversial vote pending within San Francisco's city supervisors that could see to it a fee is added to the price of alcohol in order to help deal with the issue of alcoholism, according to NPR.The "nickel a drink" fee would be levied on wholesalers, producers, and retailers, and would go towards supplementing waning city budgets for public health programs such as alcohol abuse treatment centers. In San Francisco, the city's homeless population include many heavy drinkers who make use of facilities to help them deal with their drinking problems; "the city spends more than $17 million a year to cover the health and human service costs of alcohol abuse."
If the fee is approved, the cost will likely get passed to the consumer. Though L.A. is keeping tabs on this proposed fee, "they are expected to wait to see whether anybody sues San Francisco — and how that plays out — before they start drafting copycat measures."
