Baggy Rants: If AB 1998 passes, grocery stores like Safeway will be required to shift to reusable and recycled paper bags. Nic Coury
Bag Ban Goes Viral
Activists get creative as CA plastic bag ban nears Senate vote.
Thursday, August 26, 2010
Activists on both sides of a proposed plastic bag ban are turning to YouTube in the final days of the legislative debate.
AB 1998, introduced by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica), would prohibit California grocery, drug, liquor and convenience stores from giving out single-use plastic bags - which are increasingly blamed for poisoning marine life and polluting the ocean.
Under Brownley's bill, stores would be required to offer at least 40-percent-recycled paper bags at a charge of at least a nickel each, and sell reusable bags. The state Assembly passed AB 1998 in early June.
Now it's in the Senate Rules Committee. The Senate has until Tuesday, Aug. 31, to vote on it. If it passes, the bill goes to Gov. Arnold Shwarzenegger for a signature.
"The governor has indicated he favors a plastic bag ban, but his office has said whether he signs it depends on what it looks like when it lands on his desk," says Brownley aide Linda Rapattoni.
Some recent YouTube videos by activist groups in support of the ban (the 1-minute shorts are winners of Save Our Shores' "Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye Plastic Bag" contest):
And the ad sponsored by the bill's opponents:
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