Legislation to Ban Plastic Bags Introduced in Sacramento

Legislation has been introduced in Sacramento to ban single-use plastic shopping bags.

A similar measure authorized by the Los Angeles City Council in May 2012 is undergoing an environmental review to be followed by passage of an ordinance putting it into law. If passed, the earliest it would take effect would be sometime in 2014, a spokesman for Councilman Paul Koretz said Tuesday.  

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

Sen. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima) proposed Senate Bill 405 with the backing of the  California Grocers Assn. and a coalition of environmental groups. Additionally, the bill would require grocery stores to sell reusable bags and charge a small fee for paper bags.

If passed, the measure would take effect Jan. 1, 2015, and supersede existing bag bans throughout the state, ending a patchwork of city and county laws. It would impact pharmacies and grocery stores first. 

Convenience and liquor stores would follow on Jan. 1, 2016.

An initial hearing on SB 405 in the Senate Environmental Quality Committee is scheduled for Wednesday.

“Members have a competitive disadvantage,”  California Grocers Assn. spokesman Dave Heylen said. “One municipality has a ban, the other doesn’t, and consumers would decide to go across the street and not pay anything for a reusable bag or a paper bag.”

"It is time for a statewide single-use plastic bag ban in California," Padilla said.

Clean-water advocates back the ban in order to reduce the amount of trash clogging landfills, waterways and the ocean.

A trade group called the American Progressive Bag Alliance says the bags are made of 100 percent recyclable material that consumers regularly reuse, and account for only 2 percent of all litter.

The Legislature failed to pass a similar bill last year, and Padilla's measure faces  rival legislation by Sen. Lois Wolk (D-Davis) that would put a 5-cent tax on all single-use plastic and paper bags.

-- The Los Angeles Times and the Sacramento Business Journal contributed to this report.