California Bag Ban Goes To Voters

The fate of California’s new law banning retailers from distributing single-use plastic bags will be decided by voters later this year. Adopted in September 2014, the legislation (S.B. 270) was the first in the nation to impose a statewide prohibition on plastic bags. But plastic bag makers and businesses are fighting back. They collected enough signatures for a statewide referendum to repeal the ban to be placed on the ballot in the November election, a California official announced last week. Although implementation of the ban was to begin in July with grocery stores and pharmacies, the law is now suspended until after the election. Currently, more than 120 cities, towns, and other jurisdictions in California ban plastic bags in some fashion.