by Katy Grimes, Senior Media Fellow and California Globe Editor
As appearing in the California Globe
AB 1080 and SB 54 appear to be half-baked and may be shelved
First California legislators came for our cigarettes, and banned smoking indoors and in public parks. Then they banned plastic bags, foie gras and shark fin soup. Next they banned styrofoam and plastic straws, petroleum products, and natural gas fracking. Chicken farmers are banned from caging egg-laying chickens, and the sale of pork and veal in California from farm animals raised in cages is also banned.
They are back, and plan to ban plastic packaging.
China and Indonesia lead the world in plastic pollution of the oceans, so California lawmakers have proposed legislation to restrict plastic usage … in California. Because California is an environmental leader and trendsetter on a global level, this bill is deemed justified.
Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D- San Diego) and State Senator Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica) are the authors of bills to phase out the sale and distribution of single-use plastics by 2030, because that say “our addiction to single-use plastics is killing our ecosystems.” Assembly Bill 1080 and Senate Bill 54 claim there is a “pollution and waste crisis,” and these bills will “dramatically reducing the amount of single-use waste generated in the California and requiring the remaining packaging and products to be truly recyclable or compostable.”
