The Red, White, and Green

Photo via Flickr: Evelynishere

Last July, the Los Angeles City Council voted to ban plastic shopping bags in the city’s supermarkets and stores by July 2010, but with one condition: The ban would only take effect if the state of California fails to pass legislation that would impose a 25-cent fee on shoppers requesting plastic bags.

Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) and Assemblyman Mike Davis (D-Los Angeles) had recently introduced separate bills to the Assembly that would effect this 25-cent fee. While there was some recent speculation by the press that the competing bills would be merged, I’ve just received word from Brownley’s office that there are no plans to merge the bills; in fact, because both bills failed to get out of the Assembly Appropriations Committee and to the floor of the Assembly by today’s deadline, the bills are now considered “two-year bills.” This means that if the authors do indeed decide to move their bills forward, it’ll have to wait until next year. “Asm. Brownley has not made any decision regarding that at this time,” says Linda Rapattoni, Brownley’s press secretary.

Brownley’s bill (AB 68) would charge consumers a 25-cent fee for each plastic or paper bag they request for purchases at major supermarkets and drugstore chains.

With both bills now in limbo land, it appears that Los Angeles may be one step closer to making good on its promise to ban plastic shopping bags. The city would be in good company; South Africa, Japan, and China (among other countries) have outlawed plastic bags in order to deal with widespread pollution and rising oil costs. In 2007, San Francisco became the first US city to enact a ban on plastic bags.

–Jennifer Grayson

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