Environment

Bill To Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags Passes State Assembly Committee

By Ed Joyce / Reporter

Published May 28, 2010 at 9:23 AM PDT

This story was published more than 14 years ago.

The wind blows a plastic bag around the beach near the Manhattan Beach Pier August 21, 2008 in Manhattan Beach, California.

A bill (AB 1998) that would enact a statewide plastic-bag ban passed out of a California State Assembly committee Friday.

Angela Howe with the Surfrider Foundation says the legislation is expected to be taken up by full Assembly Friday, June 4.

If passed and signed into law by the governor, AB 1998 would (as of January 1, 2012) prohibit supermarkets, larger pharmacies and convenience stores from distributing single-use bags made of plastic, paper or other materials and require the retailer to offer for sale reusable bags.

Become a KPBS sponsor

The new Department of Recycling and Resource Recovery would administer and enforce AB 1998 and submit a report to the California Legislature by January 1, 2015, on the effectiveness of the bill.

In an effort to gain support from trade associations for large grocers and retailers, AB 1998 was recently amended to include language that would preempt cities and counties from passing any local bans.

Proponents of the bill reluctantly agreed to the amendment since it appeared that Assembly leaders would not move the bill to the floor without the support of large grocers and retailers.

Tags

Environment Recycling

Ed Joyce

twitter

Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

See stories by Ed Joyce