SACRAMENTO -- California legislators have recycled a bill aimed at making the state the first in the nation to ban plastic grocery bags -- and the new effort gained momentum Wednesday despite fierce industry opposition and passionate appeals from workers who say the measure threatens their livelihoods.
Unlike last year's failed proposal, the new bill takes the unusual approach of trying to reinvent the plastic bag industry by paying companies to shift from making throw-away bags to reusable ones.
The new incentive has already won the support of two California bag manufacturers and could reshape an epic environmental battle similar to the fight over California's "bottle bill" in the 1980s. The stakes are high this year because the clout of environmental groups is on the line after a series of embarrassing legislative defeats last year.
Supporters of the bag ban -- which cleared a key Assembly committee Wednesday -- call it a vital tool to reduce litter as well as plastics pollution in the Pacific Ocean, where many of the bags end up. But opponents have labeled the bill a job killer in television and radio advertisements that started airing in the Sacramento area earlier this week.
"After seven years of going back and forth, this is clearly going to be the year that California votes to ban single-use plastic bags," said Mark Murray, executive director of Californians Against Waste. "When we do, we're going to see multiple states on two coasts follow."
San Jose, San Francisco, Oakland and many other Bay Area communities have already banned single-use bags through local ordinances. But last year, a bill sponsored by Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Pacoima, fell three votes short of the 21 votes needed to get off the Senate floor.
In January, Padilla, who is also carrying this year's bill, announced a breakthrough compromise with some of the legislation's opponents. He agreed to make $2 million from the state's bottle-and-can recycling fund available to California businesses that want to retool their operations and instead manufacture reusable plastic bags that meet the bill's rigorous standards. Those businesses must also retain and retrain their employees to get the grants.
That was enough to convince one major Southern California plastic bag manufacturer to change his mind about the legislation, which is co-sponsored by Sens. Kevin de Leon, D-Los Angeles, and Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens.
Pete Grande, CEO of Vernon-based Command Packaging, said he dropped his opposition to the bill after de Leon visited his factory and spoke with him about the proposal's merits. His company is now manufacturing reusable plastic bags and hopes to obtain one of the grants available to businesses if the bill is signed into law.
"I have been on the opposition side for the last several years, but I've come to the conclusion that our industry has the ability to change," Grande said. "And as a leader in the industry, we are making that change."
Grande's company is one of three in the state that manufactures plastic bags. Fewer than half a dozen other manufacturers produce the plastic film used to make single-use bags.
A plastic bag manufacturer near Chico also supports the bill, as do retailers Rite Aid and Target.
If passed, the legislation would ban grocery stores and pharmacies from offering customers single-use plastic bags beginning July 1, 2015. And a year later, the rule would apply to convenience stores and liquor stores, too. It would also impose a 10-cent fee on any paper or reusable plastic bags sold to customers who forget to bring their own bags when they shop and sets strict standards for what types of bags count as reusable.
Studies show that communities with ordinances banning plastic bags have less plastic bag pollution, and they spend far less cleaning up the ones that do litter local rivers and forests, Padilla said Wednesday while testifying before the Assembly Natural Resources Committee, which approved the bill on a 5-3 vote. Currently, California consumers use 14 billion plastic bags each year, and environmentalists note that only 3 percent get recycled.
None of Padilla's arguments has swayed Gary Halvorsen, regional sales manager for Crown Poly, a plastic bag manufacturer based in Huntington Park. He said the company has already lost substantial business because of local bag bans -- and that it would go under if a statewide ban is signed into law.
"This job is how I pay my mortgage, how I provide for my family, how I put groceries on the table," Halverson told the committee. "If this bill becomes law, our industry will come to a halt, and I'll lose my job."
Halverson's concerns are echoed in TV advertisements appearing in the Capitol region. Paid for by a group called the American Progressive Bag Alliance, the one-minute ad accuses Sacramento politicians like Padilla of "putting powerful special interests before working families."
Padilla, however, accused the out-of-state plastic bag manufacturers who belong to the alliance of using "scare tactics" to dissuade lawmakers from supporting his bill. North Carolina company Hilex Poly leads the alliance and is the largest producer of single-use plastic bags in North America.
Yes, he said, the bill will be a turning point for the industry and could result in some job losses. But that doesn't mean its goals are not worthwhile, he said.
"As much as we care about jobs and workers, to suggest that years ago we shouldn't have cracked down on smoking in public places because it would harm the tobacco industry is outrageous," Padilla said. "Our ultimate goal is a reduction of waste in our oceans and streams. This policy is effective and will be successful."
Starting July 1, 2015, grocery stores and pharmacies would be barred from making single-use plastic bags available to customers, and by the following July, convenience stores and liquor stores would be subject to the new rules, too.
Customers would be encouraged to bring their own reusable bags when they shop, but customers who forget would be charged a 10-cent fee for recycled paper or reusable plastic bags that meet standards for durability.
The bill would offer competitive loans and grants to plastic bag manufacturers that retool their operations and make reusable plastic bags instead. To qualify for these benefits, companies would need to retain and retrain their workers.