It's Official: No More 'Paper or Plastic' in California

The plastic bag ban, the nation's first resulting from state legislation, is a result of Gov. Jerry Brown signing Sen. Alex Padilla's (D-San Fernando Valley) SB 270 on Sept. 30, the last day for him to sign or veto bills. The bill "set off one of the fiercest lobbying battles in the Capitol this year," write Patrick McGreevy and Melanie Mason of the Los Angeles Times.

In fact, as noted a month ago, the bill had died but was resurrected three days later after a union and grocery chain came to an agreement on how the bag revenue would be spent.

In his signing statement, Gov. Brown said, "This bill is a step in the right direction  – it reduces the torrent of plastic polluting our beaches, parks and even the vast ocean itself. We’re the first to ban these bags, and we won’t be the last."

Indeed, Climate Progress reported in March on an attempt by New York City council members, not the first, to institute a city-wide ban. A coalition of groups has formed to advocate a ban.

New Yorkers currently throw away 5.2 billion plastic bags per year, which costs the city $10 million a year to transport the waste to landfills.

Chicago, Austin and Seattle already have such bans, reports The Associated Press. And contrary to some media headlines, including ours last month, Hawaii instituted a plastic bag ban two years earlier, as Stateline via Governing notes, though it was not the result of state legislation.

The Sacramento Bee reports that the plastics industry will attempt to reverse the legislation via a 2016 ballot measure.

Minutes after Brown announced signing the bill, an industry group called the American Progressive Bag Alliance vowed to begin collecting signatures in an effort to overturn the law via a referendum on the 2016 ballot. They filed a request for title and summary later in the day.