VP Advocacy, Western States Region
Mr. Batch has served as Vice President of Government Relations for the Western States Affiliate for the past 15 years. He will serve as a Sr. Advisor and Subject Matter Expert in all matters of tobacco control policy to The Tobacco Endgame Center. Mr. Batch will advise on strategy regarding the Center’s core efforts related to polices related to tobacco elimination in CA by the end of 2035. He will also advise the team with respect to local and state government including grassroots and grasstops outreach. Mr. Batch will also advise on Community Assessments and Strategic Planning and Implementation to help tobacco control advocates organize and facilitate policy campaigns. With a broad background in public policy at all levels of government, Mr. Batch has training and expertise in public policy, having obtained an MPP from the University of Southern California’s Sol Price School of Public Policy. For the past seven years, Mr. Batch has served as an Associate Adjunct Professor teaching a course on Intersectoral Leadership. As part of their 90th anniversary celebration, the Price School selected 90 graduates (over the years) who embody the School’s mission to improve the quality of life for people and their communities. They looked for alumni who have made notable achievements, contributions, or “firsts” in their chosen fields. Their goal was to gather a diverse group of Pioneers who represent the Price School’s breadth of programs and areas of study, as well as a range of individual experiences and backgrounds over time with a focus on people working in a variety of sectors, including public, private, and nonprofit arenas and they selected Eric for his community health work. Specific to tobacco control, Mr. Batch has advocated for issues related to the reduction of heart disease and stroke, the most significant issue of which is tobacco control. He represented the AHA in its sponsorship of the Yes on 56 Coalition, leading to the successful passage of Prop 56, which raised the tax on tobacco products by $2. Mr. Batch served on the Executive Committee for Prop 56 and helped draft the initiative language and strategy and successfully led the AHA’s efforts to assure that funding would go to tobacco control and prevention programs. Over the years he and his team successfully advocated for policies such as raising the purchase ago of tobacco products to 21, closing the loopholes in California’s smoke-free workplace laws, restricting the sale of flavored tobacco products, tobacco retail licensing, removal of tobacco products from public spaces such as parks and playgrounds, schools, places of work, beaches, and increasing funding for tobacco cessation.