Schwarzenegger wants plastic bag ban proposal revived
David Siders
Sacramento Bee
11/30/2010
Giving new life to a defeated bid to ban plastic grocery store bags, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger urged lawmakers Monday to reconsider the measure.
The bill faced fierce opposition from chemical-company interests and died in the Senate this year.
Schwarzenegger said at a news conference at the Capitol that the measure might fare better in the current, post-election political climate.
"Of course we fell short a few votes, but we said, 'We'll be back,' and we are back again," Schwarzenegger said. "And if we don't get it done in December, we'll get it done next year."
The lame duck governor said "a few other things" besides bags and the state budget deficit might come up when lawmakers meet next week, though he did not identify them.
It was unclear if lawmakers would take up the bag bill.
Assembly Bill 1998 sought to phase out the use of single-use plastic carryout bags. The Virginia-based interest group American Chemistry Council, among other groups, opposed the measure.
"It was a David and Goliath fight," said the bill's author, Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica. "And we were not able to accomplish, at least last year, what we all know is the right solution: a statewide ban on plastic bags."
The American Chemistry Council's Tim Shestek said plastic bags are not "single-use," but recyclable. He said a ban would saddle shoppers with the increased cost of buying alternative bags.
While supporters of the ban Monday cheered their prospects for a second round, he said, "This is a bill that's dead."
Schwarzenegger said only a small percentage of plastic bags are recycled, the vast majority of them littering streets, filling landfills and polluting waterways.
Focus on the Legislature next week will largely be on its handling of an estimated $25.4 billion budget deficit.
