ConservingNow Community Change

California Assembly Member Brownly has introduced legislation calling for a state-wide ban on plastic bags.  Additionally, the legislation would authorize retailers to charge for paper bags, up to $.25.  The bill is AB 1998 and was introduced on Feb. 17, 2010.  This is an incredible step for California (and any other state considering such a ban).  A state-wide ban would mean that the Legislature is seriously committed to reducing plastic bag pollution.  If you live in California, please considering phoning, texting, emailing or sending a letter to your representative.  This is incredibly important legislation that would benefit every Californian.  How nice would it be to drive anywhere in the state and never have to see a plastic bag tangled in a tree again?  Or to know that there is 19 million less plastic bags floating in the plastic island in the Pacific Ocean?  At ConservingNow, we urge you to support this legislation.  The more we show our representatives our support for bold environmental issues, they more they will be confident to seek new and important solutions to our everyday pollution problems.    

Here is a summary of the bill and its reasons for supporting the bill from "Californians Against Waste":

"AB 1998 will reduce dangerous plastic bag litter pollution by banning plastic bags at large retail outlets.  Plastic bags are a primary component of urban litter pollution. And urban litter pollution is the primary component of marine litter pollution.  Plastic already outweighs plankton in the North Pacific Gyre.  Plastic pollution costs California families hundreds of dollars annually in hidden litter clean-up costs.  Current retailer practices result in the distribution of approximately 19 billion plastic carryout bags annually."

Additionally, the relevant portions of the bill are summarized as follows:

BILL NUMBER: AB 1998	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Brownley
                        FEBRUARY 17, 2010
   An act to amend Section 42257 of, and to add Chapter 5.3
(commencing with Section 42280) to Part 3 of Division 30 of, the
Public Resources Code, relating to solid waste.
	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
   AB 1998, as introduced, Brownley. Recycling: plastic and paper
carryout bags.
   (1) Existing law requires an operator of a store, as defined, to
establish an at-store recycling program that provides to customers
the opportunity to return clean plastic carryout bags to that store.
This requirement is repealed on January 1, 2013.
   A violation of the enforcement provisions of the existing Fee
Collection Procedures Law is a crime.
   This bill would instead make those at-store recycling program
requirements inoperative on July 1, 2011, and would repeal them on
January 1, 2012, and would instead, on and after July 1, 2011,
prohibit a store, as defined, from providing a plastic carryout bag
to a customer. The bill would require a store, on and after July 1,
2011, with regard to providing carryout bags to a customer at the
point of sale, to either make reusable bags available for purchase by
the customer or provide a paper carryout bag that is subject to the
green bag fee that would be imposed by the bill.
   The bill would require a store to charge a green bag fee of not
less than $0.25 for each paper carryout bag distributed at the point
of sale. The bill would establish the Paper Bag Pollution Cleanup
Fund in the State Treasury and would require a store to remit these
fees, less a specified amount, to the State Board of Equalization for
deposit in that fund.
   The moneys in the fund would be required to be expended, upon
appropriation by the Legislature, in a specified order of priority,
by the department for grants to cities and counties for programs
related to paper carryout bags and reusable bag giveaway programs, by
the department, in consultation with specified state agencies, to
develop and implement specified programs related to paper carryout
bags, by the State Board of Equalization to reimburse its costs
associated with collecting the green bag fees, and by the department
for purposes of implementing the bill's provisions. The bill would
expressly prohibit the expenditure of revenues from the fund for
activities unrelated to the prevention or reduction of paper carryout
bag pollution.
   The bill would require the department, on or before January 1,
2015, to submit to the Legislature a report regarding the
effectiveness of the bill's provisions and recommendations to further
encourage the use of reusable bags.
   The bill would require the State Board of Equalization to
administer the collection of the green bag fees pursuant to the Fee
Collection Procedures Law, thereby imposing a state-mandated local
program by creating a new crime.