The current NFL champions are the New Orleans Saints. But thirty
years ago, they were horrible. The team’s play was so embarrassing
that when a local sportscaster recommended fans wear bags over their
heads at home games, thousands responded. The bag-head protesters
became known as the "Aints." The practice of fans wearing bags to
express discontent with especially poor performing sports teams has
now become a custom throughout the United States.
If
the California Legislature were a professional sports franchise,
Californians would be reaching for their bags. They would, that is,
if they could afford to pay the proposed "bag tax."
That’s
right; our embarrassing Legislature is working on another way to cost
average citizens money. Assembly Bill 1998 would punish consumers by
banning lightweight, convenient plastic grocery bags — often reused
at home as trash bags and to carry lunches to school and work — and
require grocers to offer paper bags at a charge of a least a nickel.
The bill allows the charge to go higher. Plastic
bag ban backers say the bag "fee" is not a tax, because shoppers can
bring their own bags and avoid paying. However, San Francisco, which
has a similar ordinance, has not seen a significant increase in
reusable bags, just more consumers using paper bags, according to the
California Grocers Association.
However,
grocers are backing the proposed plastic bag ban, saying that it will
resolve regional differences in "bag law." Their views may also be
influenced by the fact that they get to keep the profits from the "bag
tax." The
arguments for the bag ban are centered on the environmental benefits.
But, ironically, AB 1998 would dismantle a state bag recycling
program, while continuing to allow plastic bags to be distributed by
other businesses. And then there are the trees that will be
sacrificed to provide the paper bag alternative, which is hardly an
environmental bonus.
Solving
the problem of bag trash — plastic or paper — is not rocket science
and does not require this legislation that would cost California food
shoppers an estimated $1 billion a year. The
focus should be placed on recycling. The problem is, not everyone
knows that grocery bags are fully recyclable. Many people don’t know
how or where to recycle bags after a trip to the restaurant, dry
cleaner, store or pharmacy. Just like with other recycling efforts, by
educating the community and implementing a proactive recycling
program, we can positively impact the environment without increasing
consumer grocery costs while many Californians are struggling to just
keep food on the table.
Apparently,
the Legislature would prefer to spend time looking for complex and
inconvenient solutions to problems that can be solved more simply,
because this allows them to continue to ignore their constitutional
obligation to pass a state budget and deal with the $20 billion
deficit.