skyline read this: Major News: Read the Bold Statement I highlighted.
CA could pass nation's 1st plastic bag ban
By Deborah Sullivan Brennan9:03 p.m.Jan. 23, 2014
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California could become the nation’s first state to ban single-use plastic bags if a compromise measure set for an unveiling Friday manages to win enough votes in the Legislature.
Last year, state Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, sponsored Senate Bill 405, which would have phased out such bags at supermarkets, liquor stores and pharmacies. The legislation fell short by three votes in the Senate.
Padilla has since reworked the bill with some colleagues, and they said the changes should win over key lawmakers. Those revisions would, among other things, require retailers to charge at least 10 cents for a reusable, paper or compostable bag. The earlier bill called for a suggested bag fee but didn’t mandate one, according to the staff of Sen. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, who opposed last year’s measure but is co-sponsoring the latest version.
photo Sen. Kevin de León
The bill also would set aside $2 million to retrain workers in the plastic-bag industry for recycling jobs. It would stipulate that reusable bags contain at least 40 percent recycled material by 2020, and it would establish third-party certification of reusable plastic bags to ensure they meet California standards.
Such changes would encourage greater use of recycled materials and blunt the economic impact to the plastic-bag industry in California, de Leon said in a statement.
“We need to find a way to balance the health of the planet with the preservation of people’s livelihoods — and recognize the economic conditions faced by businesses in California. This new bill is a compromise that bridges the gap and moves the economy forward into a green future,” said de Leon, who plans to join Padilla and others for a Friday news conference at a plastics plant in Vernon, near downtown Los Angeles.
Single-use bags, also known as carry-out plastic bags, have come under increasing scrutiny because of research showing that they often end up as litter on roadsides, at beaches and in the ocean, where they harm marine mammals, birds and fish.
No state has enacted a statewide ban, fee or tax on such bags, although Hawaii has a de-facto ban as its four counties have essentially prohibited them.
California is one of six states considering bans, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Cities and counties in California that already imposed a similar bag ban — including Solana Beach, the only municipality in the San Diego region to do so — can keep it if the Legislature passes Padilla’s latest bill.
Nathan Weaver, oceans advocate with the group Environment California, commended Padilla and de Leon for crafting statewide legislation that’s designed to win majorities in both legislative chambers.
“Plastic bags are an environmental blight and a threat to wildlife,” Weaver said in a statement. “The success of 90 local plastic bag bans from Arcata to Solana Beach proves that this policy works to protect the environment.”
Opponents said a statewide bill would burden low-income and working-class residents, whom they said can’t afford reusable bags or the 10-cent charge for a paper bag. “I think it’s a complete disaster for (them),” said Mark Arabo, president and CEO of the San Diego-based Neighborhood Market Association.
Bishop George McKinney, head of St. Stephen’s Cathedral Church of God in Christ, is a critic of San Diego’s proposed bag ban. He said a statewide law would create further inequity. “Both (measures) impose a hefty tax on working families and seniors ... and both allow the big grocery chains to pocket the tens of millions of dollars that will come from this tax.”
