The third time could be the charm.
That is what advocates of a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags are hoping as the state Assembly prepares for an important vote that could come within the next few days on Senate Bill 270, which would eliminate single-use plastic bags from California grocery stores, convenience stores, liquor stores and pharmacies.
The Assembly’s Appropriations Committee approved the proposed bill on Aug. 14, setting the stage for another battle between environmentalists and their allies in the Legislature and opponents of SB270.
In 2010, then state Sen. Curren Price (D-Culver City), now a Los Angeles City Councilman, joined five other state senators in voting against a statewide ban on the artificial containers, angering many of his Culver City constituents in the process.
Mayor Meghan Sahli-Wells was an environmentalist pushing Culver City and the state to outlaw the disposable containers four years ago. She thinks the political dynamics have changed since then and is hopeful that state legislators will move forward this year on SB270.
“Things have reached a critical mass with so many cities and counties passing ordinances to ban plastic bags. They are proliferating throughout the state,” Sahli-Wells said. “Ours is now fully operational in both small and large stores.”
According to Californians Against Waste, 117 cities and counties in the state have enacted bans on single use plastic bags, including Los Angeles, Santa Monica and Culver City.
Kirsten James of Heal the Bay also thinks conditions are different from 2010.
“We have a unique group of authors that have come aboard this time that helped build a new coalition,” noted James, the Santa Monica-based environmental organization’s science and policy director of water quality. “It seems like it’s a coalition that resonates with the legislature.”
The bill is being sponsored by state Sens. Alex Padilla (D-Pacoima), Richard Lara (D- Long Beach) and Kevin de Leòn (D- Los Angeles).
“SB270 strikes the right balance. It will protect the environment and it will protect California jobs as the state transitions to re-usable bags,” said Padilla in a statement. “Singleuse plastic bags are not just a coastal issue. They are found in our mountains, our deserts, our rivers, streams and lakes. They are also in our parks and neighborhoods. It is a statewide problem that deserves a statewide solution.”
Padilla’s Senate Bill 405 last year did not garner enough votes to move the bill to the Appropriations Committee. Price, in his last year in the state Senate, did not vote on the bill.
Heal the Bay is one of many environmental organizations supporting SB270. Others include Californians Against Waste, Environment California, Heal the Bay, Clean Seas Coalition, California League of Conservation Voters, Coast keepers and the Surfrider Foundation.
In addition, two business groups? California Grocers Association, and the California Retailers Association? have signed on this year.
Unlike Price, one of Culver City’s most recently elected state officials has already added his name to the list of lawmakers supporting a statewide ban: Sebastian–Ridley Thomas (DCulver City). Ridley Thomas is a member of the Appropriations Committee, voted with his fellow committee members in favor of the ban. Last year, Ridley-Thomas announced publicly during a candidates forum at the Culver City Democratic Club that he would back such a ban after being asked by the forum’s moderator.
Groups and individuals opposing SB270 are not mincing words in their attempts to derail the proposed legislation.
“SB270 is the poster child for the perception that laws are disgustingly made like sausage. More light needs to shine on SB270, which deserves to die a quick and certain death due the deceptive nature of this bill,” wrote conservative activist and blogger Jon Fleischman in his “Flash Report,” a Sacramento political blog.
The American Progressive Bag Alliance launched an ad on Aug. 5 using clowns as a way to attack the legislation.
“SB270 is perhaps the most flawed and intentionally misleading bill currently in front of the California legislature,” said Lee Califf, the group’s executive director in “Plastics News,” an online plastics industry site. “We are running these new ads to encourage Californians to call their legislators in opposition to a bill that will kill manufacturing jobs and scam consumers so grocers can collect billions in bag fees from their customers, without providing any public benefit.”
Padilla, who is running for secretary of state, dismissed the alliance’s ads.
“The so called ‘progressive bag alliance’ is funded by the plastics industry. These out-ofstate special interests are out of touch with California and our values,” the senator countered. “In cities and counties throughout the state, Californians are speaking out loud and clear in support of the bag ban.”
Sahli-Wells said the broadbased coalition of supporters could tip the scales in favor of SB270 this time.
“It’s just not Santa Monica anymore,” she quipped, noting that inland as well as coastal communities and legislators are supporting the bill.
“We’re hopeful that [SB270] will make it over the finish line,” James concurred. “It’s make or break time.”