volunteers and over 3,800 businesses and non-profit organizations banded together statewide to support the measure, according to proponents.

"This is just the beginning," Murphy said.

Efforts to educate consumers will continue and branch out into marketing as the push for GE labeling moves to other states. The next stop is Washington State, where proponents have gathered about half of the signatures needed to put a similar initiative before voters in the November 2013 election, if it isn't first passed by that state's Legislature, according to Lundberg.

Efforts to develop GE labeling laws are just starting to get under way in Oregon, he said, and activists in 29 states across the nation are also working on similar initiatives, according to Cummins.

Prop. 37 would have also banned the practice of labeling "natural" foodsthat contain GE ingredients, he said -- an distinction he said is fraught with confusion.

"I think most Californians are not clear about the difference between organic and natural," Cummins said. "Natural' is a marketing term ... that has nothing to do with health or sustainability."

Asked why prospective financial contributors to ongoing GE labeling efforts shouldn't be discouraged by the large conglomerate of corporations with seemingly unlimited campaign resources, Cummins said, "campaign finance reform lies at the heart of the matter."

He continued, "We know we're going to have to raise a lot of money in states like Washington State," and noted the movement needs to align with a "rainbow" of liberal political organizations in the process.

The group is generally optimistic about President Barack Obama's re-election, and intends to hold