Don't Let the Plastic Bag Industry Fool California Again (NO on SB 915)!
In 2009, the plastics industry brought you SB 531 "The Carryout Bag Extended Producer Responsibility Program," which would have preempted all local plastic bag ordinances. (Coincidentally, the man behind that bill was the same man that fronts Save the Plastic Bag Coalition.) Luckily, Heal the Bay and others managed to get the preemption language out of SB 531 and it ultimately failed. This session, another bill that appears to be sponsored by the plastics industry, SB 915,hides behind the facade of "plastic bag recycling," but would actually "suspend local plastic bag ordinances, and prohibit local governments from taking certain actions regarding plastic bags." Don't be fooled.
The good news: Assembly Member Brownley introduced AB 298, which essentially picks up where AB 1998 left off last year.
For more information on S.B. 531, see Concessions of a Shopaholic: An Analysis of the Movement To Minimize Single-Use Shopping Bags from the Waste Stream and a Proposal for State Implementation in Louisiana by Rebecca Fromer.