Jun 6 - Monrovia City Council to Reconsider Stalled Bag Ban

A motion to reconsider the City of Monrovia’s ordinance on single use plastic bags was made at a City Council meeting on June 3rd, 2014, and passed. It will be reintroduced on June 17th, and if approved, a second vote to adopt the bill will be scheduled for July 1.

It has been an interesting journey for the ordinance thus far. After making it through initial committees and being recommended by the council at a first reading, the ordinance lost in a 1 to 2 vote at a final reading in May.

Mayor Mary Ann Lutz reportedly said that as far as she recalled this was the first time in her twelve years on the council that an ordinance in its second reading was pulled from the consent agenda and didn't get passed. The reason for this abnormality is clear, as two key council members, Larry Spicer and Alexander Blackburn, who had previously supported the ordinance were not in attendance. Mayor Lutz tried to call for a delay of vote until the full council was present, but the opposing councilmembers disagreed, and the ban was voted down.

However, at last night’s council meeting Councilmember Blackburn made a motion for a re-vote on the issue, on the grounds that the full council was now in attendance. The re-vote was accepted and the ordinance will have a second chance to be considered in front of the full council. We thank Mayor Lutz and Councilmembers Blackburn and Spicer for their leadership and perseverance on this issue!

Want to take action on plastic bag pollution? The state bag bill would ban plastic grocery bags throughout California starting in July of 2015. Take action here.