CALIFORNIA voters will get to weigh in on the state’s plastic bag ban, after opponents of the law collected and submitted enough signatures necessary to qualify a November 2016 referendum on the measure.
Until then, implementation of the ban is suspended, state election officials announced Tuesday, Feb. 24.
The ban, approved by California Gov. Jerry Brown in 2014, was scheduled to be phased in beginning July 1 last year at major grocery stores and pharmacies.
“California voters will now have the chance to vote down a terrible law that, if implemented, would kill 2,000 local manufacturing jobs and funnel obscene profits to big grocers without any money going to a public purpose or environmental initiative,” Lee Califf, executive director of American Progressive Bag Alliance, the trade group that gathered 555,000 of the approximately 505,000 valid signatures needed to qualify the referendum, said in a news release.
By the end of last year, the group had turned in more than 800,000 signatures.
Supporters of the ban criticized manufacturers for spending millions of dollars on the referendum campaign.
“This is a cynical ploy by out-of-state interests desperate to delay a ban already adopted in more than 100 communities across California,” said Evan Westrup, Brown’s spokesman, according to the Associated Press.
A spokesman for the group, which spent more than $3 million on the referendum effort, said it plans on eventually launching a campaign to completely eliminate the ban.
“Delaying a piece of terrible legislation from taking effect … is obviously something that everybody is looking on favorably,” alliance spokesman Jon Berrier said, according to The Sacramento Bee. “There will be a very significant voter education campaign as we move into 2016. This is something the industry is into to win.”
Under SB270, by Secretary of State Alex Padilla, who was then a state senator from Los Angeles, $2 million in loans were included to address job loss concerns so plastic bag manufacturers could shift operations to making reusable bags.
The ban was set to expand to convenience stores and pharmacies in 2016, and plastic bags were set to be pulled from checkout counters at bigger grocery stores, such as Walmart and Target, by the summer.
Supporters of the law, including the California Grocers Association, environmental groups, unions, local governments, say they are confident that California voters uphold the statewide ban.
“It’s not surprising that after spending more than $3.2 million, 98 percent of which is from out of state, the plastic bag industry has bought its way onto the California ballot to protect its profits,” said Mark Murray, spokesman for California vs. Big Plastic, a coalition of business, environmental and labor groups.
Of funds spent on the referendum campaign, $1.7 million came from Hilex Poly Co. Inc., a company based in South Carolina. Other contributors include Texas companies Advance Polybag Inc. and Superbag Corp., which gave $500,000 each. New Jersey-based Formosa Plastics Corp. USA also helped with $400,000.
Plastic bag bans exist in cities across the country, including Austin, Chicago, Texas and Seattle.
More than 100 cities and counties in California, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, also have such bans in effect. Some local governments in the state plan on proceeding with their own ban in response to the referendum, including American Canyon, Santa Barbara County, and San Diego.
(With reports from Associated Press and The Sacramento Bee)
(www.asianjournal.com)
(LA Midweek March 4-6, 2015 Sec. A pg.1)
