Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags as part of a broader $3.6 billion environmental bond bill.

State leaders estimate more than 2 billion plastic bags are used across Massachusetts each year, many of which end up as litter.

Shoppers spoke with NBC 10’s Martha Konstandinidis about the potential ban. (WJAR)

If approved, stores would no longer provide plastic bags at checkout. Shoppers would need to bring reusable bags or pay at least 10 cents for paper bags.

Under the proposal, half of that fee would go toward a state Plastic Environmental Protection Fund, while the remaining portion would stick with retailers.

More than 160 communities in Massachusetts, including Boston, already have local plastic bag bans in place. Shoppers in Seekonk had mixed reactions to the proposal.

“It’s kind of environmentally better, but they shouldn’t be charging people for the bags,” said Bill Joyal.

Some shoppers supported the change, citing environmental concerns.

“That’s a great idea. There’s too much plastic in the environment,” said John Kochanski of Rumford. “I use cloth reusable bags.”

Still, some worry about added costs at checkout.

“Now we’ve got to pay for the bags when the prices for the food you’re shopping for are already too expensive,” said Frank Formisano of Seekonk.

In Rhode Island, the state has already implemented a similar statewide plastic bag ban in 2024, along with a paper bag fee.

Lawmakers on Beacon Hill have passed similar proposals before, but they have not become law. The current bill also includes funding for climate resilience, clean water projects and infrastructure upgrades.

The proposal was up for debate in the Senate on Wednesday. If it passes, it would still need approval from the House and Gov. Maura Healey before becoming law.

The letter emphasized that sharing non-consensual explicit deepfake images is a crime in Massachusetts and that school leadership must work to stop their spread.

State officials issued the guidance after a Globe report last week found that Massachusetts schools have failed to implement policies to address sexual harassment and Artificial Intelligence.

The Globe analysis found that AI-generated sexual harassment is addressed in nine of 113 school district policies posted on the website of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees. Only five mentioned that disciplinary action would be taken against students who used AI to create harmful images of others.

Wednesday’s letter reminded local school officials that deepfakes can trigger mandated reporting requirements for teachers and other staff who are required to notify authorities when they believe a child has been harmed. It also offered a list of resources on sexual harassment, cyberbullying, digital literacy, AI, and more.

Last August, state education officials issued guidelines for the responsible use of AI in classrooms, but they did not give specific guidance on the technology and sexual harassment until now.

The Globe reported last week that Megan Mancini had spent months looking for justice after a fake AI-generated naked image of her daughter Grace circulated the hallways of Hingham Middle School last fall. And for a long time, nothing came of it.

The eighth-grade boy who created them was not punished by the school district. Mancini said Hingham administrators also refused her requests to address the problem in the student handbook.

After Mancini went public with her story, Governor Maura Healey contacted her. Mancini said she finally felt heard.

In a phone call on Thursday, Mancini said the governor told her she was “appalled” by Hingham Public Schools inaction and “couldn’t understand why nothing has been done.”

Healey explained that the issue hit close to home, Mancini said, because she and her partner are raising children at a time when AI generated images are flooding schools. The governor’s office confirmed that Healey spoke with Mancini.

“It’s both terrible and totally unacceptable that young people today are living with the fear that their classmates might create and distribute AI-generated nude images of them,” Healey said in a statement. “They and their parents deserve to know that, if that happens, their school and community officials will take it seriously and that it would be investigated with perpetrators held accountable just like any other crime.”

The governor urged parents and young people to have conversations about deepfakes so people understand that these AI creations are wrong, illegal and harmful.

Deepfake nude pictures of teens are not unique to Massachusetts.

In the last school year across the county, 15 percent of students reported seeing sexually explicit deepfakes of someone associated with their school, according to a recent report by the Center for Democracy and Technology.

For as little at $4.99, a teen can upload a headshot of a classmate and generate a deepfake image in an instant. The websites that create them are rapidly multiplying. Hundreds are now available even when mobile app stores ban them, according to the social network analysis company Graphika.

Some students are creating multiple explicit images of their peers and sharing them online.

Last month, school administrators at the Pentucket Regional Middle-High School in West Newbury learned that a student created a social media account featuring “inappropriate images” of classmates that they speculate was created using AI.

“The account was identified by a student, who promptly reported it to school officials,” principal Brenda Erhardt, said in an email sent to parents and shared with the Globe.

The Essex County District Attorney’s office confirmed that they are investigating the allegations. No charges have been issued and the office would not provide additional information.

The student handbook for the Middle-High School does prohibit using “technological methods” for sexual harassment, but doesn’t explicitly mention AI. Neither does a policy posted on the district’s website on the appropriate use of digital technologies.

The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Across the country, less than one-quarter of teachers said their school had policies for how to address deepfake images, according to the Center for Democracy and Technology.

In Hingham, state Senator Patrick O’Connor also communicated with Mancini, the mother of middle school victim of an AI deepfake.

“The increased misuse of social media and AI technology is something that concerns me,” wrote O’Connor, from Weymouth, in an email.

O’Connor said he was supporting legislation to tighten laws combating for child pornography and AI.

Mancini and other mothers in Hingham are pushing the school district to address sexual harassment and AI in the student handbook.

“I’ve been saying this all along, the school needs to act,” Mancini said “I just don’t want this to happen to anyone else.”

Material from prior Globe coverage was used in this story.

Mariana Simões can be reached at mariana.simoes@globe.com. Follow her on X @MariRebuaSimoes.

HE HAD DOWN THERE IN THE STORE THOUGH. PERFECT. WE ARE TRACKING SOME SHOWERS OUT THERE. GOT A LITTLE LOUD A FEW SPOTS. WE DID HAVE SOME THUNDER AND LIGHTNING, ESPECIALLY WEST AND MOVING OUT THROUGH METRO WEST INTO WORCESTER COUNTY AND HEADING NORTH OF BOSTON. NOT SEEING MUCH OF THAT ANYMORE. SO AT THIS POINT, WE’RE JUST TRACKING THESE SHOWERS AND THEY’RE FOLLOWING A TRACK SOUTHWARD. SO SOUTH OF BOSTON WE DIDN’T SEE MUCH ACTION EARLIER THIS EVENING. YOU’RE NOW SEEING YOUR CHANCE. WE HAVE SOME SHOWERS EXTENDING FROM PLYMOUTH RIGHT OUT THROUGH TODD AND TOWARD PROVIDENCE. AND THIS WILL CONTINUE ON A TRACK SOUTHWARD TOWARD THE SOUTH COAST, CAPE AND ISLANDS, WHERE WE DID NOT SEE MUCH IN THE WAY OF RAIN EARLIER. MOVING FROM THE MASS PIKE NORTH. THAT’S WHERE THE FOCUS OF THE HEAVIEST RAIN WAS EARLIER TODAY. WE DID GET CLOSE TO HALF AN INCH MOVING FROM ROUTE TWO NORTHWARD, SO THAT’S OUR HEAVIEST SPOTS. BUT WE DID HAVE SOME THUNDERSTORMS AT THIS POINT. STORMS ARE OVER. SHOWERS CONTINUE TO SHIFT SHOWERS SOUTH. AND AS THEY DO SO WE’LL SEE PARTIAL CLEARING OF THE CLOUDS AS WE MOVE TOWARDS SUNRISE. SO I EXPECT WE’LL SEE A REALLY BEAUTIFUL SUNRISE HERE TOMORROW MORNING. IF YOU’RE A LATE NIGHT TRAVELER THOUGH, HITTING THE ROADS AFTER ALL THIS RAIN THAT MOVED THROUGH, PLEASE BE AWARE THERE IS THAT CHANCE FOR SOME PATCHY FOG AND THAT COULD SLOW YOU DOWN A LITTLE BIT IN A FEW SPOTS. WE’RE LOOKING AHEAD TO A FEW ROUNDS OF SHOWERS IN THE DAYS AHEAD. NEXT THREAT FOR SHOWERS TOMORROW COULD CONTAIN SOME NON-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. AND THEN WE’RE KEEPING AN EYE ON YOUR WEEKEND. TEMPERATURES ARE GOING TO FLUCTUATE UPPER 50S TO LOW 60S. SATURDAY LITTLE WARMER SUNDAY IN THE MID 60S, BUT THAT COMES WITH A CHANCE OF RAIN. LOOK AT THESE HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY WE GOT UP TO 78 IN BOSTON. THAT IS THE WARMEST WE HAVE BEEN ALL YEAR. IN FACT, THIS IS THE WARMEST WE HAVE FELT SINCE THE BEGINNING OF OCTOBER OF 2025. SO IT’S BEEN SOME TIME. WE HAD MID 80S FOR OUR INLAND SPOTS. WE GOT TO 86 DEGREES IN FITCHBURG. A REAL FEEL OF SUMMER THIS AFTERNOON. WE’RE NOW FALLING INTO THE UPPER 50S LOW 60S, BUT WITH AVERAGE HIGH AFTERNOON TEMPERATURES IN THE MID 50S FOR US TO SEE AS WE’RE APPROACHING 1030 THIS EVENING, TEMPERATURES THAT ARE ABOVE THAT POINT, THAT IS A VERY WARM EVENING FOR APRIL STANDARDS FOR SURE. SO SHOWERS CONTINUE TO MOVE SOUTHWARD. WE’LL SEE THEM MOVING TOWARD THE SOUTH COAST, CAPE AND ISLANDS AS WE TRAVEL TOWARD MIDNIGHT, I THINK SHORTLY AFTER MIDNIGHT WE’LL SEE MOST LOCATIONS DRYING OUT. PARTIAL CLEARING. WE’RE DROPPING INTO THE 50S. WE’RE MOVING INTO TOMORROW WITH SUN TO START, BUT I DO EXPECT THOSE CLOUDS WILL RETURN IN THE AFTERNOON WITH THAT CHANCE FOR SHOWERS AND PERHAPS EVEN A FEW RUMBLES OF THUNDER. NOTICE FOR BOSTON FORECAST. WE’RE TOPPING OUT IN THE 60S. TOMORROW IT’S INLAND WHERE WE HAVE THE BEST CHANCE OF HITTING THE UPPER 70S TO LOW 80S AGAIN, A LITTLE BIT COOLER TOWARD THE OUTER CAPE AND NANTUCKET, WHERE 50S WILL BE POSSIBLE WITH A BACKDOOR COLD FRONT. YOU SEE A SHOWER OR TWO AROUND NOON TOMORROW, BUT I’M GOING TO FAST FORWARD TOWARD THE 5:00 HOUR. SO IT’S REALLY BETWEEN 4 TO 8 P.M. WHERE WE SEE THE BEST CHANCE OF SHOWERS. AND YES, THERE IS THAT CHANCE FOR SOME NON-SEVERE THUNDERSTORMS. SO WHAT THAT MEANS IS THAT THERE MIGHT BE SOME THUNDER. THERE MIGHT BE SOME LIGHTNING, COULD GET WINDY AT TIMES. WE’RE NOT LOOKING AT ANYTHING THAT SHOULD BE DAMAGING AS THAT COMES TO AN END AROUND 8 TO 10 P.M., WE SHOULD SEE THINGS FIZZLING OUT OVERNIGHT. SEVEN DAY FORECAST SHOWS US CLEARING OUT AS WE MOVE TOWARDS SATURDAY, BUT ANOTHER ROUND OF RAIN AS WE MOVE TOWARDS SUNDAY. MARATHON MONDAY. COOL, BUT THE CHANCE OF RAIN DIMINISHES THROUGHOUT THE