California
California passes ban on plastic grocery bags again, this time nixing thicker plastic bags
California lawmakers have passed a second plastic bag ban after admitting the state’s first ban failed its goal of reducing plastic waste.
State Sen. Catherine Blakespear, D-Encinitas, and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan, D-Orinda, told The Los Angeles Times more sweeping legislation was needed to address a “loophole” in the initial legislation, which actually led consumers to use more plastic over the past decade.
The Democrats’ new proposal, offered in bills Senate Bill 1053 and Assembly Bill 2236, revises the state’s single-use bag ban to stop grocery stores from selling thicker plastic grocery bags and requires grocery stores to only offer recycled paper bags at checkout.
The legislation was passed in late August and now sits on Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk awaiting his signature. If signed into law, the ban would become effective in 2026.
California’s new plastic bag ban would only pertain to checkout bags at grocery stores. (Photo by ROMEO GACAD/AFP via Getty Images) (Getty Images)
CALIFORNIA PLASTIC BAG BAN LED TO MORE PLASTIC WASTE, CONSUMER ADVOCACY GROUP CLAIMS
“Instead of being asked do you want paper or plastic at checkout, consumers will simply be asked if they want a paper bag,” Blakespear told the Times. “This easy change eliminates plastic bags from the point of sale and helps California significantly reduce the plastic waste that is contaminating our environment and waters.”
In 2014, the Golden State passed SB 270, a statewide ban on single-use plastic bags at grocery, drug and convenience stores, in efforts to reduce the amount of plastic waste and encourage the public to use reusable bags. However, Democrats admitted the plastic bag ban failed to reduce waste, because consumers would opt to pay a small fee for the heavier “reusable” plastic bags offered by grocery stores instead. However, consumers typically threw these bags away.
As a result, consumer advocacy group CALPIRG claimed there’s been a 47% jump in plastic bag waste tonnage over the past decade.
“157,385 tons of plastic bag waste was discarded in California the year the law was passed. By 2022, however, the tonnage of discarded plastic bags had skyrocketed to 231,072 — a 47% jump. Even accounting for an increase in population, the number rose from 4.08 tons per 1,000 people in 2014 to 5.89 tons per 1,000 people in 2022,” the Times said of the report’s findings in February.
The new legislation received support from both environmental groups and the California Grocers Association, the Times report said.
The paper pleaded for lawmakers to pass the “do-over” plastic ban in an editorial last month.
California grocery stores would only be allowed to sell paper bags at checkout under the new bill. (iStock)
LA TIMES ADMITS CALIFORNIA PLASTIC BAG BANS ACTUALLY MADE WASTE PROBLEM WORSE: ‘UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES’
“Retailers handed them out like candy, and consumers couldn’t have recycled them even if they wanted to. No recycling facility in the state accepts these bags,” the editorial read.
“This can’t go on,” it continued. “We need a do-over — a second plastic bag ban that fulfills the promise that lawmakers made in 2014 by passing Senate Bill 270, and that voters embraced two years later when they rejected an industry-led ballot measure to overturn it.”
An alliance of California recyclers and manufacturers announced they were disappointed by the bills.
“This ill-advised approval will create a cascade of problems for every Californian. These lawmakers chose to enact legislation that they know is flawed despite specific examples, studies, and polls that show banning plastic film grocery bags hurts consumers, businesses, is not what Californians want, and does not help the environment or limit plastic waste,” Roxanne Spiekerman, spokesperson for the RRA and Vice President of Public Affairs for PreZero US, said in a statement.
Fox News’ Kendall Tietz contributed to this report.
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California
Mother, daughter found ‘alive and well’ after going missing on Southern California hiking trail
A mother and daughter who went missing after going for a hike on a difficult trail in San Bernardino County’s San Gorgonio Wilderness have been found “alive and well,” the sheriff’s department announced Friday.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department told KTLA they were uninjured and “walked out on their own.”
Krystal Meyers, 41, and her daughter Alexis Meyers Martinez, 21, were hiking on the Vivian Creek Trail Thursday but didn’t return, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
They were last known to be at the 10,300-foot elevation mark above the High Creek switchbacks at 11 a.m., according to the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue team.
The Vivian Creek Trail is widely considered one of the more strenuous and hazardous routes in the San Gorgonio Wilderness.
The U.S. Forest Service says it’s the shortest and steepest route to the summit of Mount San Gorgonio and requires experienced mountaineering skills.
Officials did not provide any further details about the circumstances surrounding their disappearance.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — The California Highway Patrol is urging drivers to stay focused on the road as they head out for Fourth of July celebrations.
The holiday weekend can be a dangerous time on our roads as millions of drivers are expected to travel.
CHP Officer Jorge Toro joined Eyewitness News Mornings to share how drivers can stay safe behind the wheel.
Officer Toro also highlighted the importance of sober driving over the holiday.
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He says anyone hosting a party should make sure all of their guests get home safely, ensuring anyone who may be impaired doesn’t drive.
California is returning a stretch of rugged Mendocino County coast to the Indigenous nations whose ancestors once stewarded its shores.
State transportation officials recently approved the transfer of Blues Beach and the surrounding bluffs to Kai Poma, a nonprofit founded by representatives of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Round Valley Indian Tribes and Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians.
The transfer of 136 acres just south of the community of Westport will mark the first time land managed by the California Department of Transportation has been returned to Indigenous tribes.
“This is beyond huge,” said J. Carlos Rivera, tribal chairman of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians. “It’s enormous from our tribal perspective that we are basically obtaining the land that our people once lived on before colonization.”
California purchased the swath of rocky cliffs and windswept shoreline in the 1960s to expand the construction of Highway 1 and create a scenic viewpoint for highway travelers, according to a California Coastal Commission report.
More recently, public access has been largely unregulated, and summer weekends and holidays have drawn large groups who camp and party on the beach, at times driving through sensitive areas, damaging cultural sites and leaving behind trash, the report states.
Kai Poma plans to conduct cultural and archaeological resource studies and environmental surveys and then prepare a resource management plan for the property, according to planning documents. The nonprofit and the Coastal Commission have drafted a public access management plan that states the land will be open from sunrise to sunset.
Rivera described the entire property as a sacred site. The coastal waters are used by tribal people for seaweed and abalone gathering, and the shores host youth cultural camps, he said. “Protecting the land, it has a deeper meaning for us because we’re connected to the land,” he said.
The effort to acquire the land took years — and required a change in state law. Caltrans lacked the ability to transfer land to tribal governments until 2021, when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill sponsored by state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) that enabled the transfer, according to a news release issued at the time. The law also bars commercial activity on the property and requires public access be maintained.
“With 136 acres now officially transferred into tribal stewardship, one of the most spectacular stretches of the Mendocino Coast will be forever protected,” McGuire said in a statement.
“This agreement, the first of its kind in California, gives these three dynamic Native American tribes the rightful opportunity to reclaim sacred lands and cultural traditions on this special piece of earth. And it’s about damn time.”
The land transfer cleared its last regulatory hurdle June 26 with the approval by the California Transportation Commission, said Neil Thapar, an attorney who works as an advisor and legal consultant to Kai Poma. Caltrans staff will next record the deed transferring the title from the state of California to Kai Poma, which is expected to happen any day, he said.
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