This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Community Corner

California Senate Rejects Plastic Bag Ban

Senate Bill 405 did not receive the 21 votes it needed to pass. The measure failed by a vote of 18-17 with four abstentions.

By Kelly Hartog

A Senate Bill designed to ban the use of plastic bags in stores across the state of California failed to pass a Senate vote on vote Thursday. It did not receive the 21 votes needed to pass. The measure failed by a vote of 18-17 with four abstentions. 

Had it passed, Senate Bill 405 would have required grocery stores and other large retail organizations from providing shoppers with plastic bags starting on Jan. 1 2015.

There are currently 72 local governments in California that have a plastic bag ban, including Malibu, Los Angeles County, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Long Beach, Pasadena and West Hollywood.

Mark Daniels, chairman of the American Progressive Bag Alliance issued a statement supporting the Senate vote saying, “Today’s vote signals the facts have prevailed in this debate. A ban on 100 percent recyclable plastic bags would hurt the environment and threaten jobs. The American Progressive Bag Alliance works hard to protect American jobs in the plastic bag manufacturing and recycling industry – including 2,000 in California – and our organization has repeatedly called for an honest debate on this issue. 

We thank the members of the California Senate who rejected this misguided policy prescription based on unfounded stats, junk science and myths, and we hope lawmakers will continue to make responsible decisions on behalf of California’s environment and economy.”

What do you think?

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?