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Bill to Ban Single-Use Plastic Bags Passes Washington State Senate

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press releaseA bill passed today by the Senate would reduce pollution by prohibiting retailers in Washington state from handing out single-use plastic bags. The bill passed on a vote of 30-19 and now heads to the House for consideration and a few technical fixes.

Sen. Mona Das (D-Kent) sponsored Senate Bill 5323, which is supported by retailers as well as environmentalists.

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“We’ve reached crisis-level proportions of plastic pollution,” Das said. “Everyone has seen the horrifying photos and videos of animals choked by plastics, tangled in garbage, or whose bellies are full of waste. It’s not good for animals, for natural habitats, for our planet. It’s not good for us. We bear a responsibility to make this right.”

Mona Das, Senator Das, 47th District Senator
Senator Mona Das (D-Kent, 47th District) | Courtesy Photo

This bill would allow retailers — including grocers —to provide paper bags or durable, reusable bags for 8 cents each. The reusable bags must meet standards for strength, durability and recycled content. The 8-cent charge would help retailers recover the costs of the paper or durable plastic bags and create an incentive for shoppers to bring their own bags. Shoppers who bring their own reusable bags would not be charged.

People using the State Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Women, Infants and Children (WIC) program or the state Food Assistance Program (FAP) would not be subject to the 8-cent fee.

Thirty-seven jurisdictions throughout Washington state — comprising about 33 percent of Washington’s jurisdictions, and hundreds of thousands of Washingtonians — have implemented plastic bag ban measures, up from 28 jurisdictions when this bill was heard on the Senate floor in March of 2019. SB 5323 is modeled after those local laws and applies one uniform set of regulations to the state.

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“Protecting our environment is one of the most important jobs we have as state legislators,” Das said, “especially since the gravity of the climate crisis is taken less seriously by some at the national level. We only get one planet. We need to care for it.”


SB5323 2019-2020: Bill text
SponsorsDasCarlyleKudererPalumboHuntRolfesFrocktKeiserPedersenSaldaña
SB Roll Call: Yeas: 30 Nays: 19 Absent: 0 Excused: 0
Voting Yea: Senators Billig, Carlyle, Cleveland, Conway, Darneille, Das, Dhingra, Frockt, Hasegawa, Hobbs, Hunt, Keiser, Kuderer, Liias, Lovelett, McCoy, Mullet, Nguyen, Pedersen, Randall, Rolfes, Saldaña, Salomon, Short, Stanford, Takko, Van De Wege, Warnick, Wellman, Wilson, C.
Voting Nay: Senators Becker, Braun, Brown, Ericksen, Fortunato, Hawkins, Holy, Honeyford, King, Muzzall, O`Ban, Padden, Rivers, Schoesler, Sheldon, Wagoner, Walsh, Wilson, L., Zeiger
Absent:
Excused:
Companion Bill: HB 1205


The above is a press release from the office of Sen. Mona Day. (D-Kent, 47th LD).  The Auburn Examiner has not independently verified its contents save to pull the bill’s sponsors and roll call.  We encourage our readers to verify any information they find may be overly biased or questionable. The publication of this press release does not indicate an endorsement of its contents. 

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