Aug 31 - AB 1998 Plastic Bag Ban Dies on Senate Floor

The Plastic Bag Ban Bill, AB 1998 failed passage tonight, stalling with a 14-21 vote on the Senate Floor. In the end, incessant plastics industry lobbying made passage of the bill impossible. Los Angeles County, Santa Monica, San Jose, Berkeley and many other cities and counties have announced they will soon ban plastic bags. CAW will be advocating in the coming months to enact these and other plastic bag bans at the local level.

Fortunately, four CAW-supported bills were sent to the Governor's Desk and are awaiting his signature or veto:

• AB 737 (Chesbro) - Expands recycling to every apartment and commercial business in California.
• AB 2398 (Perez) - Establishes carpet extended producer responsibility.
• AB 1343 (Huffman) - Establishes paint extended producer responsibility.
• SB 1454 (DeSaulnier) - Expands scope of compostable plastic labeling restrictions.