California's Battle to Ban the Plastic Bag Heats Up in Sacramento: Author of Legislation Says the Reports of its Death Are Greatly Exaggerated

Bagging Single-Use Plastic Bags in the 'Nation State' of California: News/Analysis/Commentary

AB 1998, the California legislative bill that would ban single-use plastic carrier bags in the Golden State's grocery stores, retail stores over 10,000 square-feet with pharmacies and convenience stores (in 2013), is alive and well in the California State Senate Rules Committee - and opponents of the bill led by the American Chemistry Council shouldn't pop their champagne corks in celebration just yet, says Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, the author of the legislation.

Read our August 20, 2010 story: Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Bill AB 1998 Could Be in Difficulty of Passing in the California State Senate.

Making the rounds in her Southern California district over the weekend, which included a stop on Saturday at a University of California, Los Angeles film festival where "Plastic Bag," a short film by director Ramin Bahrani was shown, Assemblywoman Brownley said that although the Senate Appropriations Committee didn't vote out the bill by its required August 13 deadline, and as a result sent the legislation over to the Senate Rules Committee, it did so for a specific reason. California legislative rules require that if the Appropriations Committee fails to pass a bill by its deadline, August 13 in the case of AB 1999, such bills can't be amended over the following 10 days, which is when the legislative session ends for the year, on August 31.

However, by giving control of the bill to the Senate Rules Committee, which is exempt from the no amendments rule, AB 1998 is not subject to the restriction and can be debated and amended between now and August 31. As such, AB 1998 has sort of a protected status, according to Brownley.

This is important because Brownley and other supports of the single-use plastic carrier bag ban legislation believe that with some minor amendments the bill can pass in the full State Senate. It must be voted on before the end of business on August 31, when the legislative session ends, however.

In other words, the bill's author says it's still alive, despite arguments to the contrary by those against the bag ban legislation.

Brownley says she had numerous meetings last week with Senate leaders to discuss amendments to AB 1998 that deal with the issues opponents are most concerned with, such as whether grocers will be able to keep the money they charge for paper bags, or whether any amount they charge above their costs will be directed to state recycling programs rather than being kept by the retailers as profits.

AB 1998 allows grocers to sell paper grocery bags to customers for a minimum of five cents each. Large paper carrier bags generally cost grocers slightly more than five cents each.

The American Chemistry Council, which among other activities is a trade group for single-use plastic carrier bag manufacturers, and a coalition of opponents of the bag ban bill, which are going by the name Stop the Bag Police, argue that "the fees collected from paper bags would be pocketed by grocers and would not fund the infrastructure required by the bill. The passage of AB 1998 would result in the elimination of hundreds of California-based plastic bag manufacturing jobs and would dismantle a young but growing plastic bag recycling infrastructure," the coalition said in a statement recently.

For those who have a fundamental understanding of California grocery retailing, the notion that grocers are going to use sales of the paper grocery bags as a profit center is hard to fathom. Most likely, grocers will sell the bags for cost or a few cents over their cost. We predict it will be no more than 10 -to- fifteen cents a bag. Many grocers might even start out selling the bags for the five cents each, the minimum charge required in AB 1998.

Additionally, we suspect nearly all grocery chains and independents will sell the paper bags for the same price, or close to it, once it's established in the market. Safeway, Kroger and Walmart will essentially set the price as the biggest retailers and market share leaders in California.

We also suspect paper bag manufactures will raise the cost of the bags to California grocers if the legislation is passed because they will see a guaranteed market in California. Grocers will likely pass any cost increases on to shoppers. However, the last thing California grocers want to do is be accused of profiting from the sale of paper bags. The public relations damage from it would far exceed any minimal profit they might make.

The purpose of the minimum five cent charge for the paper bags is to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags. In fact, many supporters argue that five cents isn't enough. Rather, they say that a fifteen cent or more per-bag charge is probably required in order to economically motivate shoppers to bring their own bags to the store.

California grocers are already required by law to sell reusable grocery bags in their stores. AB 1998 maintains that requirement.

Grocers will still be allowed to use the types of plastic bags they currently use in-store for meat, produce, bulk foods and other items under a food safety provision in the bill.

So here's the scoop, according to Brownley: This week the Senate Rules Committee should propose some minor amendments to AB 1998 dealing with the key issues noted above. She hopes those changes will gain the support of those holdouts in the Senate. Those amendments can be changed and fine tuned until August 31, when the bill must be voted on. If supporters don't think they have enough votes, they can pull the bill from a full Senate vote and bring it back next year, although if they do that it will have to go before all of the State Assembly and Senate committees all over again. AB 1998 passed the full California State Assembly in June.

Meanwhile, both supporters and opponents are lobbying Senators hard and fast. Both groups are also using free and paid media and social networking sites to get their respective messages out to California voters, who they then hope will call and e-mail their State Senators telling the legislators how they want them to vote on the single-use plastic bag ban bill.

Last week the American Chemistry Council went big in lobbying the State Senate against AB 1998. The group also launched a video of its own, titled "Trouble."

The video is in part a response to a short film, "The Majestic Bag," narrated by actor Jeremy Irons, and put out by Heal the Bay, a Santa Monica, California-based environmental group which is one of the major supporters of AB 1998, as we reported in this piece last week - August 16, 2010 Supporters of California's First-in-the-Nation Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban Going Humorous to Win on the Eve of State Senate Vote.

The California Grocers Association (CGA) supports AB 1998, as we've previously reported. The CGA, which was founded in 1898, is a non-profit, statewide trade association representing approximately 500 retail members operating over 6,000 food and grocery stores in California and Nevada, and approximately 300 grocery supplier companies. Retail membership includes chain and independent supermarkets, convenience stores and mass merchandisers. Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is a CGA member, as is Safeway Stores, Inc. and most of the state's major chains and independents.

If passed, AB 1998 would prevent California cities and counties, accept San Francisco which already bans single-use plastic carrier bags, from enacting local laws regarding the plastic shopping bags. This provision is the main reason the CGA and its member-grocers is supporting the legislation. It wants a single-statewide law on plastic carrier bag use rather than the patchwork of local laws that currently exists.

It's estimated that about 19 million single-use plastic carrier bags are distributed in California retail stores each year. Just 5% of those bags are recycled, according to the state. If AB 1998 passes in the Senate, the Governor says he will sign it. If that happens, California will be the first state in the nation to ban single-use plastic carrier bags at grocery and related retail stores.

Numerous environmental groups and coalitions also support AB 1998. These include Heal the Bay, the Plastic Pollution Coalition, Californians Against Waste, Surf Santa Monica, and numerous others.

The California Legislature is going on being 60 days late without having passed a state budget. But starting today, along with more budget talks, the battle of the plastic bag will be front and center at the State Capital in Sacramento. Will the plastic bag ban pass? Or will its opponents succeed in bagging the bag ban? Stay tuned.

Related Stories:

August 20, 2010: Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Bill AB 1998 Could Be in Difficulty of Passing in the California State Senate

August 16, 2010: Supporters of California's First-in-the-Nation Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban Going Humorous to Win on the Eve of State Senate Vote

July 20, 2010: California's First-in-the-Nation Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Legislation Looks to Be On its Way to Victory.

June 19, 2010: 'Paper or Plastic' Likely to Be Replaced By 'Reusable or Paper' (For a Fee) in California Grocery Stores

[Readers: Fresh & Easy Buzz has been reporting on, writing about, and offering analysis and opinion on the single-use plastic carrier bag, reusable bag, and related topics and issues since early 2008. Click here, here, here and here to read a selection of those posts.]

Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Bill AB 1998 Could Be in Difficulty of Passing in the California State Senate

Breaking Buzz

California's AB 1998, the legislative bill that would ban single-use plastic carrier bags in the Golden State's grocery markets, retail stores over 10,000 square-feet with pharmacies and (in 2013) convenience stores, could be in trouble in the State Senate.

AB 1998 allows grocers and the other retailers to offer shoppers paper grocery bags at a cost of at least five cents each. Grocers in California are already required to offer reusable shopping bags for sale in their stores. AB 1998 maintains that requirement.

In this story on August 16, we reported that the Senate Appropriations Committee had voted on AB 1998. That's incorrect. The committee failed to reach a vote on the bill by its reporting deadline of August 13, so the chairman referred AB 1998 to the Senate Rules Committee. As of today, the bill is pending in the Rules Committee.

The full California State Senate must vote on AB 1998 by August 31, when the legislative body adjourns. And because the bill wasn't approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee, it now must receive a yes vote by two-thirds of the State Senators in order to pass. Previously all that was needed for the legislation to pass was a simple majority.

As we've reported previously, the bill to ban the single-use plastic carrier bags has the support of a majority of the members of the California State Senate. However, now that the vote will require a two-thirds majority rather than a simple majority, what previously was considered an easy victory for AB 1998 is now in question.

California Governor Schwarzenegger has said he will sign the bill if it is passed by the California State Senate. AB 1998 has already been passed by the California State Assembly.

Opponents of the bag ban, who've been relatively inactive of late compared to the bill's supporters, today seized on the change in the legislative process in the Senate, which now requires the two-thirds majority vote in order for the plastic bag ban legislation to pass and go to the Governor for his signature.

The main opposition group, which calls itself Stop the Bag Police [http://www.stopthebagpolice.com/] today said: "Opposition to AB 1998, the so-called 'bag ban bill,' is growing rapidly across the state. Hundreds of businesses, many of them small grocers and retailers, have joined forces with manufacturing associations, chambers of commerce and plastic bag makers statewide to send a clear message to Sacramento: start focusing on the real problems facing Californians."

The coalition's main argument against the single-use plastic bag ban is summed up in this statement from the group's spokesperson: "In its current iteration, AB 1998 would prohibit large grocers, drug stores, food marts and convenience stores from providing their customers free plastic bags and require a minimum five-cent fee on paper bags. The Senate Appropriations Committee determined that AB 1998 would require $2 million in new state costs to fund a new 'bag police' bureaucracy. The fees collected from paper bags would be pocketed by grocers and would not fund the infrastructure required by the bill. The passage of AB 1998 would result in the elimination of hundreds of California-based plastic bag manufacturing jobs and would dismantle a young but growing plastic bag recycling infrastructure."

Stop the Bag Police says it currently has nearly 500 businesses and organizations that oppose AB 1998.

Among those opposed to the legislation include independent grocers like Northern California-based Fiesta Foods and Food Fair Market, the California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, the Long Beach, California Black Chamber of Commerce, the American Chemistry Council and others. You can view a full list of the businesses and organizations opposed to AB 1998 at [http://www.stopthebagpolice.com/.]

The American Chemistry Council which among other activities represents the manufacturers of single-use plastic carrier bags, is heading up the opposition to the bill.

Key to the single-use plastic carrier bag ban legislation's passing is meeting the August 31 deadline for a (now two-thirds) vote by the full California State Senate. If the bill isn't voted on by August 31, it goes away for this legislative session, which ends on August 31, and must be reintroduced all over again in next year's session.

Both meeting that deadline and obtaining the two-thirds majority vote now required to pass AB 1998 is no longer that "sure thing" for supporters of the single-use plastic carrier bag ban legislation, which includes the California Grocers Association, (CGA) the trade organization for California's chain and independent grocers.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market, which is a member of the CGA, is in favor of AB 1998 by virtue of its membership in the trade group, even though the grocer offers only free single-use plastic carrier bags and no paper bag offerings in its 159 fresh food and grocery stores, 98 units of which are located in California. Fresh & Easy offers a variety of reusable bags in its stores, ranging from an inexpensive clear synthetic bag it calls a 'bag for life,' which sells for 20 cents each, to various varieties of cloth and canvas bags, with a starting price of one dollar.

The California State Senate's legislative clock is ticking for both the supporters and opponents of the single-use plastic bag ban bill.

Related Stories:

August 16, 2010: Supporters of California's First-in-the-Nation Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban Going Humorous to Win on the Eve of State Senate Vote

July 20, 2010: California's First-in-the-Nation Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Legislation Looks to Be On its Way to Victory.

June 19, 2010: 'Paper or Plastic' Likeley to Be Replaced By 'Reusable or Paper' (For a Fee) in California Grocery Stores

[Readers: Fresh & Easy Buzz has been reporting on, writing about, and offering analysis and opinion on the single-use plastic carrier bag, reusable bag, and related topics and issues since early 2008. Click here, here, here and here to read a selection of those posts.]

Supporters of California's First-in-the-Nation Single-Use Plastic Bag Ban Going Humorous to Win on the Eve of State Senate Vote

Bagging Single-Use Plastic Bags in the 'Nation State' of California: News/Analysis/Commentary

We last reported on and wrote about AB 1998, the California legislation that if passed would ban single-use plastic carrier bags from being used in the Golden State's grocery stores, retail stores over 10,000 square-feet that have pharmacies, and eventually convenience stores (in 2013), in this July 20, 2010 piece: California's First-in-the-Nation Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Legislation Looks to Be On its Way to Victory.

In addition to banning single-use plastic carrier bags, the legislation requires grocers and the other retailers to sell paper grocery sacks for a minimum of five cents each, which is designed to encourage reusable bag use by shoppers. California law already requires grocers to offer reusable shopping bags for sale in-store. AB 1098 maintains that requirement.

Since our July 20 story, the bill, which passed the California State Assembly and was then sent to the State Senate, has passed in the final key Senate Committee - Appropriations - and is awaiting a floor vote by the full California State Senate. That vote will take place before the end of August, according to our sources.

Passage in the California State Senate is the last leg of the legislative journey for AB 1098. And California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he will sign the bill if it's passed by the Senate.

At present, political odds-makers in Sacramento tell us the bill currently has majority support for passage in the State Senate.

However, supporters of the single-use plastic carrier bag ban in California, which would be the first state in the nation to enact such a law, aren't letting that majority support for the bill stop them from launching an all out campaign to win on the eve of the floor vote by the Golden State's majority Democratic State Senate.

In fact, some of the last minute pro-AB 1098 campaigning is down right humorous - but by design.

For example, one of the single-use plastic carrier bag ban legislation's supporters, the environmental watchdog organization Heal the Bay, today released a short film it calls a "mockumentary," designed to promote passage of AB 1998. The short film, which is narrated by Academy-Award winning actor Jeremy Irons, charts the "lifecycle" of a plastic bag to promote awareness of plastic pollution in California and beyond, according to the environmental group.

The "mockumentary," titled "The Majestic Plastic Bag," is filmed in the style of a Nature Channel documentary program and tracks the "migration" of a plastic bag from a grocery store parking lot to the "Great Pacific Garbage Patch" in the Pacific Ocean.

Though lighthearted in tone, the short film hammers home the stark reality of California's plastic bag pollution situation: 19 billion bags are used every year, creating over 123,000 tons of unnecessary waste, costing taxpayers $25 million in cleanup costs a year, says Heal the Bay President Mark Gold. "Less than five percent of all single-use plastic bags are recycled, with many ending up as litter and in the ocean as plastic pollution," Gold says. Gold, explaining the philosophy behind using humor to make a serious environmental point in support of the single-use plastic bag ban.

"Rather than lecturing the audience, we wanted to create a film that would capture people's attention with humor," Gold says. "At the same time, we saw this as subversive way to make viewers realize the serious, far-reaching problem of single-use plastic bag pollution."

The "mockumentary," which was shot on location throughout Los Angeles, was developed by director Jeremy Konner of Southern California's Partizan Pictures, along with the the advertising agency DDB LA. The film had "little to no budget" and was created solely with donated time, Heal the Bay's Gold says.

Heal the Bay won't be getting any protests about the short film from California's grocers, since the industry supports the plastic bag ban bill through its trade organization, the California Grocers Association.

The 'Bag Monster'

Heal the Bay's short film comes on the heals of another humorous campaign in favor of AB 1098, which was held on August 12 at Ghiradelli Square in San Francisco.

The star of that pro-single-use plastic carrier bag ban legislation event was the "Bag Monster," otherwise known as Andy Keller, the inventor of the popular Chico Bag reusable shopping bag. Actually the "Bag Monster" is a costume made out of 500 single-use plastic carrier bags which Keller created to wear as a way to demonstrate the impact the plastic bags have on the environment. It's estimated each shopper in the U.S. on average uses 500 plastic carrier bags each year.

Keller now has numerous volunteers who wear the the "Bag Monster" costumes at special events, like the one on August 12 at Ghiradelli Square, which was a rally in support of AB 1098.

Keller and a bunch of other "Bag Monsters" staged what they called a "100 Bag Monster March" through the popular San Francisco shopping venue on August 12 in support of California's single-use plastic carrier bag ban.



In addition to the March, the event featured a press conference by Keller and supporters, as the video below details.



Press Conference: Part 2



It's not over until it's over though

In contrast to these and other activities from the various pro-single-use plastic carrier bag ban groups on the eve of the California State Senate's vote, those against the ban, including the plastic carrier bag industry trade association, are doing very little overt campaigning against the legislation.

Instead, opponents have been focusing most of their efforts on lobbying legislators. However, with such widespread support for the legislation, including from the California Grocers Association, the single-use plastic carrier bag industry appears, based on its low-level of campaign activity and even direct lobbying, to be seeing the writing on the wall that the bill will pass, and as he has said he will do, signed by the Governor.

But we doubt that will be the end of the story. Instead, it's likely the single-use plastic bag industry is saving its efforts - and cash - to fight the plastic bag ban once it is passed and signed into law by the Governor, something the industry has been successful at doing against bans in California cities such as Oakland and others. Stay tuned.

[Readers: Fresh & Easy Buzz has been reporting on, writing about, and offering analysis and commentary on the single-use plastic carrier bag, reusable bag, and related topics and issues since early 2008. Click here, here, here and here to read.]

California's First-in-the-Nation Plastic Carrier Bag Ban Legislation Looks to Be On its Way to Victory

Bagging Single-Use Plastic Bags in the 'Nation State' of California: News/Analysis/Commentary

California Assembly Bill 1998, which would ban single-use plastic carrier bags from being used in the Golden State's grocery and drug stores, appears on the road to becoming law.

Assembly Bill 1998 (The Single-Use Bag Reduction Act), authored by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, a Democrat from Santa Monica, passed on June 1 in the California State Assembly, by a 41-27 margin.

[Read - Fresh & Easy Buzz - June 19, 2010: 'Paper or Plastic' Likeley to Be Replaced By 'Reusable or Paper' (For a Fee) in California Grocery Stores]

After passing in the State Assembly, the bill went over to the California State Senate Environmental Quality Committee, which recently approved the legislation in a 5-2 vote.

The bill is now in the California State Senate Appropriations Committee, where it's set to be voted on by August 14.

If the bill passes in Appropriations - which more than likely will be the case - the legislation then goes to the full California State Senate for a vote. In order to meet the legislative deadline, the bill must be voted on and passed by August 31, 2010.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has said he intends to sign AB 1998 if passed and sent to him.

The legislation bans single-use plastic carrier bags at grocery and drug stores in California. The single-use plastic bag ban would be phased in over two years, starting with supermarkets and any other format store over 10,000 square-feet containing pharmacies. Convenience stores would have until July 1, 2013 to comply with the law.

The bill also allows grocery and drug stores to offer paper grocery bags to shoppers, which the retailers would have to sell to customers for a minimum of five cents per bag. California grocers are already required by law to offer reusable shopping bags in their stores.

As we outlined in our June 19 story, the legislation is supported by the California Grocers Association (CGA), the state's trade association, which represents chain and independent grocers with stores in the Golden State.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is a CGA member, and therefore supports the legislation banning single-use plastic bags, as does Safeway Stores, Inc., Save Mart Supermarkets, WinCo Foods, the Rite Aid drug chain and numerous other food and drug retailers, many which are listed below.

Below is a listening of some of the key supporters and opponents of the single-use plastic carrier bag ban legislation.

Supporters:

California Grocers Association
Californians Against Waste
Heal the Bay
1 Bag at a Time Inc
AFSCME
Amerigreenbag.com
Association of Communities United of South Los Angeles
Ballona Creek Renaissance
Bay Area Council
California Association of Environmental Health Administrators
California Coastal Coalition
California Coastkeeper Alliance
California League of Conservation Voters
California State Lands Commission
Chico Bag
City of Burbank
City of Del Mar
City of Long Beach
City of Newport Beach
City of Pasadena
City of San Buenaventura
City of San Clemente
City of Solana Beach
City of Ventura
Clean South Bay
Clean Water Action California
Defenders of Wildlife
Downtown Encinitas MainStreet Association
Duro Bag Manufacturing Company
Earth Resource Foundation
Earthwise Bag Company
East Bay Municipal Utility District
Environment California
Envirosax
ForestEthics
Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Market Inc.
Friends of Five Creeks
Global Green USA
Green Sangha
Humboldt Coastkeepers
Humboldt County Board of Supervisors
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County Solid Waste Management Committee/ Integrated Waste Management Task Force
Marin County Board of Supervisors
Monterey County Board of Supervisors
Monterey Regional Waste Management District
Natural Resources Defense Council
Neighborhood Market Association
Northcoast Environmental Center
OCEANAOrange County Coastkeeper
Ormond Beach Observers
Planning and Conservation League
Plastic Pollution Coalition
PW Supermarkets Inc. (San Jose)
Rainforest Action Network
Rite Aid
San Diego Coastkeeper
San Francisco Chamber of Commerce
San Luis Obispo County Integrated Waste Management Authority
Santa Barbara Channelkeeper
Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors
Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission
Santa Monica Baykeeper
Save Mart Supermarkets
Seventh Generation Advisors
Sierra Club of California
Solid Waste Solutions Inc
StopWaste.org – Alameda County Waste Management Authority
Steven Bochco Productions
Super A Food Inc. (Commerce)
Surfers’ Environmental Alliance
Surfrider Foundation
State Lands Commission
Urban Semillas
Washington Elementary PTA
Western States Council of the United Food & Commercial Workers
WiLDCOAST
Wild Heritage Planners
WinCo Foods Inc.
Wisdom Academy for Young Scientists
Youth Opportunities for High School and Associations of Communities United of South Los Angeles

Opposition:

American Chemistry Council
American Forest & Paper Association
Biodegradable Products Institute
Bradley Packaging Systems
California Film Extruders & Converters Association
California Forestry Association
Californians for Extended Producer Responsibility
Central California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Command Packaging
Corona Chamber of Commerce
Crown Poly Inc
Great American Packaging
Heritage Bag
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association
Metabolix
Long Beach Area Chamber of Commerce
Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce

If the legislation passes - all current indications are that it will and the Governor has said he will sign it into law - California will be the first state in the U.S. to impose a ban on single-use plastic carrier bags at grocery and drug stores.

The law also will preempt all city and county bag ban laws in the state, accept San Francisco's, which has an exemption in the legislation.

But once passed and signed by the Governor, California's single-use plastic bag ban law could find itself spending years in the courts.

The single-use plastic carrier bag industry, through its trade association, has been successful in getting municipal bag ban laws in California cities like Oakland and Manhattan Beach struck down by the courts.

Many observers believe the single-use plastic carrier bag industry will file suit against the California law not long after it's signed by the Governor. One key reason it could do so is because the California law would be the first such statewide ban in the U.S., and likely will serve as a model that other states will follow. This is something the single-use plastic carrier bag industry wants to avoid - the establishment of the first statewide ban.

On the other hand, since California's grocery and drug retailers are in favor of the ban, the single-use plastic carrier bag industry would find itself in a strange position if it does file suit. In doing so, it would essentially be fighting to keep the use of plastic carrier bags legal in California grocery and drug stores, even though the primary users of the bags - the grocers and drug chains which operate those stores - are in favor of banning the bags.

California's grocers are in favor of the legislation because they want one single, uniform statewide law, rather than a patchwork of municipal and county single-use plastic carrier bag laws, whcih require the retailers to do one thing in city A and another in City B. For example, Safeway can't offer single-use plastic carrier bags at its stores in San Francisco. However, it can offer them at its store in South San Francisco (it's own municipality) which is literally next door to San Francisco. The same with other grocery chains and multi-store independents.

Therefore, if the single-use plastic carrier bag industry does file suit against the California law (assuming it passes of course), we suspect the California Grocers Association will join the State of California in arguing to uphold the law, thereby pitting the plastic bag industry against the grocers, sonething it should think twice about doing, since many of the chains like Safeway Stores are major customers for single-use plastic carrier bags for company-owned chains and stores outside of California.

Reader Resources:

>Ronald Fong, president and CEO of the California Grocers Association, authored an opinion piece in Sunday's (July 18) Sacramento Bee, in which he describes why the state's grocers are in favor of the single-use plastic bag ban legislation. You can read his Op Ed here. Look to the write of Fong's Op Ed. There are two other opinion pieces offering different perspectives.

>Also on Sunday, July 18, Kroger Co.'s Fred Meyer food and general merchandise chain, which has 130 stores located in the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain regions in the Western U.S., announced it would stop offering single-use plastic carrier bags in its 10 stores in Portland, Oregon. beginning on August 1, 2010.

Oregon is considering bag ban legislation similar to California's. Fred Meyer has decided to get out in front of the pending legislation by doing a unique test - which you can read about here - at its 10 stores in Portland.

>Fresh & Easy Buzz has been reporting on, writing about, and offering analysis and opinion on the single-use plastic carrier bag, reusable bag, and related topics and issues since early 2008. Click here, here, here and here to read a selection of those posts.

'Paper or Plastic' Likley to Be Replaced By 'Reusable or Paper' (For a Fee) in California Grocery Stores

Bagging Single-Use Plastic Bags in the 'Nation State' of California: News/Analysis/Commentary

After various failed attempts over the last few years to require grocers to charge for or stop offering single-use plastic carrier bags [see here and here, for example], it looks like California will soon pass a law banning the Golden State's grocery stores, pharmacies, liquor and convenience stores from providing the free thin plastic bags to customers.

Assembly Bill 1998, authored by Assemblywoman Julia Brownley who is a Democrat from Santa Monica, passed on June 1 in the State Assembly, by 41-27 margin.

The bill bans the distribution of all single-use plastic bags in supermarkets, drug stores, convenience stores and liquor stores in California. Mass merchandisers like Walmart and Target, and department stores, can still offer the plastic bags to shoppers, however, under the existing bill as passed in the Assembly on June 1.

The bill's background summary says California spends $25 million annually to pick up and dispose of single-use plastic carrier bags.

The plastic bag-ban bill has been sent to the California State Senate, where it's expected to pass either as is or with only a minor amendment or two.

Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who in the past has opposed similar bills, supports the plastic bag-ban legislation and has said he will sign it if and when it's passed in the State Senate, which could happen as soon as early July.

A hearing on the bill is set for June 28 in the State Senate's Environmental Quality Committee. Once passed out of committee, it will be voted on by the whole body of the Senate. [You can view the full history to date of AB 1998 here.]

The legislation wouldn't be on track to be passed and signed by the Governor though were it not for some shrewd political horse-trading and deal-making by Assemblywoman Brownley, other plastic bag-ban supporters and the California Grocers Association (CGA), the trade organization that represents 500 food and grocery retailing companies that operate about 8,000 stores in California.

AB 1998 originally banned both single-use and paper grocery bags, leaving just reusable bags as the only option grocers could offer customers. Many California grocers, particularly the big chains like Safeway and other key CGA retailer-members, didn't like the full plastic and paper ban but liked a provision of the law that might end what has been going on for years in California, which is city-by-city piecemeal legislation, in some cases banning (or proposing to ban) single-use plastic carrier bags completely, or enacting a per-bag fee on both paper and plastic. The provision the CGA likes is one that allows the state law to supersede any and all county or municipal bag-ban or fee laws currently on the books, as well as any future legislation that differs from it.

As a result of this potentially mutual ground, the grocer's association and Assemblywoman Brownley started talking a couple months ago.

Brownley, who failed to get a bag-fee bill passed last year [April 16, 2009 Two New Bills in California State Assembly Would Put 25-Cent Per Bag Fee on Both Single-Use Plastic and Paper Carrier Bags], and her supporters saw getting the CGA's support for the legislation as a game-changer, as did the Governor, who signaled he would support the bag-ban bill if it was backed by the state's grocers via their trade association.

The CGA also knew that the bag-ban bill, with a ban on both single-use plastic bags and paper bags, could pass even if they opposed it, which they weren't looking forward to doing considering the huge sums of money such lobbying efforts cost in Sacramento these days. The trade group also saw it as an opportunity to deal with and possibly put an end to what's been a highly-contentious issue for years between grocers, many members of the Democratic majority in the State Assembly and Senate and environmental groups: The banning or charging for single-use plastic and paper carrier bags.

Brownley and bag-ban supporters - fellow legislators, environmental groups, the UFCW retail clerks union and others - cut a deal with the GGA that went something like this: In return for amending the bill so that it would allow grocers to sell paper grocery sacks made of at least 40% post-recycled paper to shoppers for a fee of not less than five cents per bag, the grocers' association would support the bill, thereby making it as much a California food and grocery retailing industry piece of legislation as it was an environmental group bill. Key also was maintaining the provision in which state law supersedes any local bag-ban laws. [Note: We suggested this - the statewide uniformity - would be a good move for the CGA in this piece last year.]

The California Grocers Association and Assemblywoman Brownley discussed and agreed on terms; the trade association backed the bill; and the Governor got on board. The CGA's support also resulted in the California Chamber of Commerce deciding not to oppose the legislation, which they had planned to do prior to the grocery group's support of it. All this is key to why, to a person, every analyst of California politics says the bill will become law.

"There have been a number of different proposals and different cities have approached this in different ways," says Dave Heylen, the spokesman for the California Grocers Association, which is based in Sacramento.

"This bill would impact supermarkets, chain pharmacies, local neighborhood markets, convenience stores and liquor stores, so it provides a uniform statewide standard to help level the playing field among food retailers. A ban on single-use, carry-out bags brings the most environmental gain with the least competitive disruption for retailers," Heylen says in describing why the grocers' association supports the bill to ban single-use plastic carrier bags.

Currently four California cities - San Francisco, Fairfax, Palo Alto and Malibu - have single-use plastic bag-ban laws on the books. Two other cities, Oakland and Manhattan Beach, passed bans but haven't been able to implement the laws because of challenges in court. Numerous other California cities, and a couple counties, have proposals to either ban or charge a fee on single-use plastic carrier bags, and in some cases paper bags, in various stages of debate by local lawmakers.

But not so fast perhaps: We expect the single-use plastic carrier bag trade association, which has successfully stopped the laws in Oakland and Manhattan Beach from being enacted, to challenge the California law in the courts, starting with asking a judge for an injunction against its being implemented while the law's being argued in court. We anticipate the trade group will do this soon after the bill is signed into law by the Governor if it plans to challenge the single-use plastic bag-ban law. If this happens the law could be held up for a couple years before it works its way through the courts.

According to the State of California, 19 million single-use bags are used in the Golden State annually. The goal of the legislation isn't to replace plastic bags with paper. Rather, it's to increase the use of reusable shopping bags by consumers who shop in the state's grocery, drug, convenience and liquor stores.

By law, all grocers in California already offer reusable bags for sales in their stores, most even offering affordable versions for 99 cents or one dollar.

The state's grocers are also required by law to have bins in their stores and accept single-use plastic carrier bags from customers for recycling.

However, despite the widespread availability of reusable shopping bags at affordable prices and the recycling bins in the stores for a number of years now, the use of reusable bags by consumers, along with the rate of plastic bag recycling, hasn't increased significantly. Grocers report distributing nearly as many of the single-use plastic and paper carrier bags currently as they did 3-4 years ago, for example. And just 5% of single-use plastic carrier bags are recycled annually in California. That's actually an impressive number, since the average nationwide is about 1.5%-2%.

Virtually every major grocery chain in California - Safeway Stores, Kroger, Stater Bros., Albertsons, Save Mart, Trader Joe's, Raley's and the many others, as well as independents, offer both free paper and plastic carrier bags in their respective stores. Therefore it will be easy for nearly 100% of the state's grocers to make the transition - they'll just pull out the plastic carrier bags from the stores and start charging for the paper they currently offer for free. We expect per bag fees ranging from five to ten cents each in the beginning. If we had to bet, we would say five cents a bag to start.

Two grocery chains with numerous stores in California, Whole Foods Market (in 2008) and Sprouts Farmers Market (in 2009), no longer offer single-use plastic carrier bags in their stores voluntarily.

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market though only offers free single-use plastic carrier bags - along with a variety of reusable bags, ranging from its 20 cent per bag "bags for life," to 99 cent bags and more expensive canvas carriers - in its about 100 (out of 159) stores in California. Therefore Fresh & Easy will be faced with a decision if and when the single-use plastic bag-ban law is implemented.

That decision: Will Fresh & Easy offer paper grocery bags in its stores for a charge like all of its competitors will, or will it offer only reusable bags, which customers will have to pay at least 20 cents each for (the clear plastic but reusable "bags for life.")?

The self-service checkout stands at Fresh & Easy stores aren't outfitted to hold paper grocery bags, as is the case with its competitors checkouts. So if the grocer does bring in paper bags it will need to figure out where to put them. To do so properly might result in some re-configuring of the checkouts, which means added costs.

Of course there's another possible solution for Fresh & Easy: Don't bring in the paper bags at all but offer the reusable "bags for life" as the default bag, replacing the single-use plastic (and of course keep selling the other types of reusable bags), reducing the cost from the current 20 cents per bag to say 15 cents or 1o cents a bag.

But there could be a problem with this solution. The legislation defines a "reusable bag" as one designed and manufactured for at least 100 uses. Looking at and touching one of Fresh & Easy's "bags for life" at this very moment, it's hard to imagine it lasting for 100 uses. Nothing against the concept or the bag, which Fresh & Easy will replace for free if shoppers return it to the store when worn out. But they don't appear to be 100-use bags. If anyone has used a Fresh & Easy "bag for life" 100 times or more, let us know in the comments section below.

Reader Note:

Fresh & Easy Buzz has written extensively about the single-use carrier bag issue - and reusable bags - since early 2008. Click here, here, here and here to read those stories and analysis pieces. There are links to additional posts at the end of many of the stories linked above. Also, at the bottom of each page you can click "newer posts" and "older posts" for more pages.

Earth Day 2009: California-Based Grocers Conducting A Myriad Of Reusable Bag Promotions Today; Other 'Green' Activities For Earth Day

The attractive and compelling Earth Day 2009 graphic above was created by artist dana gray for the Environmental Council of Sacramento, California's Earth Day 2009 activities. Learn more about those activities here: Environmental Council of Sacramento. [Graphic courtesy of Environmental Council of Sacramento.]

Numerous grocers in California, which arguably leads the U.S. when it comes to "green" initiatives, are celebrating Earth Day today by offering reusable shopping bags to shoppers at greatly reduced costs -- and in the case of many retailers for free.

For example, all day today, El Segundo (Southern) California-based Tesco Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market is giving customers one of its free reusable canvas shopping bags in return for making a purchase of $10 or more in its stores in California (Southern and Bakersfield), southern Nevada and Metropolitan Phoenix, Arizona.

The Fresh & Easy reusable canvas bags normally sell for 99 cents each.

In addition:

>Supervalu's Inc.'s Albertsons chain in Southern California is giving away free reusable shopping bags at its stores in Santa Barbara, Calabasas and Southgate. Employees of the chain are also volunteering their time to assist in cleaning four state parks in San Diego.

>KV Mart, a Southern California-based privately-held supermarket chain, is going Albertsons one better in the free bag giveaway department: It's giving out a set amount of free reusable shopping bags in all of its Southern California stores today.

>Reno, Nevada-based Scolari’s Food & Drug, a family-owned supermarket chain, is giving the first 100 customers at each of its stores a free reusable shopping bag today.

>the upscale, Southern California-based Bristol Farms chain, which also is owned by Supervalu, Inc., is giving shoppers in its Southern California (and its one store in San Francisco in Northern California) supermarkets a free, high-quality reusable shopping bag for purchases of $25 or more made in its stores today.

>Another upscale Southern California chain, Gelsons, has created a special Earth Day 2009 limited edition reusable shopping bag which it's giving free to customers who buy $25 or more worth of groceries in its stores all day today.

>Modesto, California-based Save Mart Supermarkets (about 230 stores), which operates Save Mart banner supermarkets and Food Maxx banner discount warehouse stores in Central and Northern California -- from Bakersfield south to San Joaquin County in the north -- and Lucky banner supermarkets in the San Fancisco Bay Area, Sacramento region and other parts of Northern Califronia -- has teamed up with the makers of Tropicana brand orange juice in an Earth Day reusable bag extravaganza in all of its stores.

For each 128oz bottle of Tropicana Pure Premium Orange Juice customers purchase (the juice is advertised all week for $6.29 each in Save Mart-owned stores), they receive three free "Save Mart" reusable canvas shopping bags. The cross-promotion with Save Mart is part of Tropicana's "Save the Rainforests" campaign, in which the brand is donating money towards saving and preserving the rainforests.

>Safeway Stores, Inc. which operates supermarkets under the Safeway, Vons, Pak N Save and The Market banners in California, Nevada and Arizona, is giving shoppers a free, high-quality reusable shopping bag with purchases of $50 or more in its stores all day today. We're surprised Safeway is requiring such a high minimum purchase, since in the past the retailer has actually given reusable bags away for free. Maybe next Earth Day?

In addition to the reusable bag promotions and giveaways, numerous California-based supermarket chains are doing other good "green" deeds today for Earth Day.

For example:

>Sacramento, California-based Raley's Family of Fine Food Stores, which operates 133 supermarkets under the Raley's, Bel-Air, Nob Hill Foods and Food Source (warehouse stores) banners throughout Northern California and northern Nevada, is opening its "greenest" store today. The store is located in the San Francisco Bay Area city of Petaluma. The Petaluma Raley's banner supermarket has received a "gold" rating by LEED, the organization that certifies "green" commercial buildings in the U.S.. The only rating above "gold" is LEED's "platinum" rating.

The Petaluma store also employs state of the art refrigeration systems and a new induction lighting processes that dramatically decrease the amount of energy use in a building. Raley's says it is the first supermarket chain to use the new induction lightling system in the U.S.

Raley's is conducting all sorts of Earth Day activities at the Petaluma store grand opening, as it is at all of its 133 supermarkets.

>Natural and organic grocery chain Whole Foods Market, Inc. is holding a vitual Earth Day 2009 festival in its stores in California, Nevada, Arizona and elsewhere throughout the U.S. (and in Canada and the United Kingdom). Among those activities include giving away free trees to shoppers, selected free reusable bag giveaways, and partnership promotions with numorous local environmental and community organizations for Earth Day 2009, along with numerous other "green" activities.

Whole Foods also announced today that it plans to dramatically increase its use of alternative energy at its distribution facilities and stores, including putting solar panels on many of its natural and organic foods supermarkets.

>Wal-Mart also announced today it plans to significantly increase the number of its stores that have solar power systems on panels. The majority of the new stores Wal-Mart will be adding the solar panels to are in California and the Western U.S. Selected Wal-mat stores also are giving away free reusable shopping bags today.

>Southern California-based supermarket chain Stater Bros (based in the Inland Empire region). and Arizona-based natural foods chain Sprouts Farmers Market, which has a number of stores in Southern California, have both announced they are making a financial and corporate involvement committment tothe U.S. National Park system in the Western U.S. That committment is to help preserve and conserve the National Parks, which are a true American heritage and treasure.

>Los Angeles based Superior Grocers, a multi-store independent, is providing water and fresh fruit to volunteers participating in a tree planting event in the Sixth District of Los Angeles.

>Rainbow Natural Market, a high-volume natural foods cooperative supermarket in San Francisco, is holding an Earth Day 2009 festival in and outside its store today. The event consists of numerous informational and educational booth on topics like local foods, recycling and more. There's also local and organic food tastings, demonstrations of ways to "green" the home, and other pro-environment kinds of activities.

The examples we've listed above of what grocers based in California, the Western U.S., and elsewhere in the country are doing for Earth Day 2009 are merely the tip of the iceberg. Other chains and independents are doing similar and other activities, all designed around the Earth Day conservation and "green" theme.

In California, the California Grocers Association (CGA), the Sacramento, California-based food and grocery industry trade association for chains and independents, has played a major role in encouraging its grocer-members to sponsor reusable shopping bag promotions and giveaways today.

The trade group is committed to playing its part in getting more California shoppers to use reusable bags at its member's food and grocery stores. CGA members include most all of the leading chains and independents with stores in California.

"Using reusable bags is one of the easiest and most effective ways to have a positive impact on our environment," Ronald Fong, President and CEO of the California Grocers Association (CGA), said today. "On Earth Day 2009, we (the CGA) intend to increase reusable bag awareness and educate consumers to the benefits of their use."

"Grocers have sold reusable bags for years, Fong says, but it wasn't until the passage of Assembly Bill 2449 – California’s statewide plastic bag recycling bill – in 2007, and the increased worldwide focus on sustainability, that reusable shopping bags moved into the environmental spotlight."

The law requires supermarkets in California to sell reusable shopping bags, along with placing recycling bins in their stores for shoppers to return single-use plastic carrier bags to from home.

As Fresh & Easy Buzz reported in this April 16, 2009 story [Two New Bills in California State Assembly Would Put 25-Cent Per Bag Fee on Both Single-Use Plastic and Paper Carrier Bags], new proposed legislation is currently making its way through the California State Assembly in Sacramento that would levy a 25-cent per bag fee on all single-use plastic carrier bags and paper grocery sacks shoppers request in supermarkets, chain drug stores and convenience chain stores in the Golden State.

This proposed legislation, some version of which looks likely to pass this year, makes the effort by California's grocers to promote reusable bag use by customers in their stores all the more important on this Earth Day -- and beyond.

Of course, if a consumer behavior change would take hold, in which more shoppers bring their own bags to the store with them, such legislation wouldn't be needed. After all, in the larger scheme of things it really is up to each one of us as consumers and shoppers to use reusable bags and thus contribute to decreasing the use of non-renewable energy sources, isn't it?

Later today Fresh & Easy Buzz will publish a suggested, simple program, that if implemented by grocers in California and elsewhere we believe could lead to a dramatic increase in the use of reusable shopping bags by shoppers. Of course, that program, like any and all others, will require consumer cooperation and participation in order to work.

Stay tuned.

Happy Earth Day 2009.

[Editor's Note: Information about the reusable canvas shopping bag pictured above is available here.]

[You can follow Fresh & Easy Buzz around on Twitter.com at www.twitter.com/freshneasybuzz.]

Related stories and posts:

>April 9, 2009: Competitor News: One Year Since Eliminating Plastic Bags in Stores Whole Foods Market Says Reusable Bag Use Tripled; 150 Million Bags Out of Landfills

>April 8, 2009: News & Analysis: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Gets Reprieve As Manhattan Beach, California Plastic Bag Ban Law Held Up By Plastic Bag Industry Group's Lawsuit

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Becomes the First Major U.S. Food and Grocery Retailer to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags Tomorrow

>March 19, 2009: Another Tesco Fresh & Easy Future Market City Bans the (Plastic) Bag: No Plastic Carrier Bags In Palo Alto, CA Supermarkets Starting September 18th

>March 7, 2009: Analysis & Commentary: The Seven Retail Operations Changes Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Needs to Make to Help it Get On the Success Track

>December 7, 2008: Fresh & Easy Offers New Definition of 'Double Bagging;' Says Sales of Reusable Bags Has Doubled Since Introducing its 99-Cent Bag in October

>August 13, 2008: Tesco to Offer Shoppers Free Plastic Bags in UK Stores Only if Requested; Still Offering Plastic Bags-Only in Fresh & Easy USA Stores; No Paper Option

>August 1, 2008: Bag Bans and Fees: Seattle, Washington Imposes 20-Cent Fee On Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags; Bans the Use of Foam Meat Trays in Supermarkets

>July 23, 2008: Plastic or Plastic: Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Bans in California Cities Threatening Tesco Fresh & Easy's Free 'Plastic Bag-Only' Policy

>September 25, 2008: Competitor News: Wal-Mart Joins Tesco, Others in Announcing A Plastic Bag Reduction Program of its Own

>April 20, 2008: Earth Day 2008: California Bag-Fee Bill AB 2058 Passes California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee; Next Stop Appropriations Committee

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: City of Los Angeles, CGA and Southern California Grocery Chains Partner in Major Reuseable Shopping Bag Giveaway Promotion

>April 18, 2008: Earth Day 2008: New Issues Are Beginning to Emerge With Growing Consumer Use of Reusable Shopping Bags: Worker Injuries, Shoplifting, 'Double-Bagging'

>April 24, 2008: Legislation: Oakland, California's Plastic Grocery Bag Ban Law Not in the 'Bag' Yet

>April 13, 2008: California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee to Vote on Statewide 25-cent Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag-Fee on Monday

>March 15, 2008: UK 'Banish The (Plastic) Bags' Campaign Update: Morrison's Latest to Make Announcement; Tesco Holds Firm

>March 5, 2008: Britain's 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign and Tesco: London Street Artist 'Celebrates' the Tesco Plastic Bag; More UK Retailers to Charge Bag Fee

>March 8, 2008: More UK Retailers Jump On The 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign.

>March 4, 2008: "Message From Across the Pond: Tesco is Right Square in the Middle of the 'Banish the (Plastic) Bags' Campaign in the United Kingdom

>May 1, 2008: Green Retailing Report: UK Supermarket Chain Waitrose Creates A 'Reusable-Bag Only' 'Green' Checkout Lane in One of Its Stores

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Massachusetts'-Based Stop & Shop Supermarket Chain and General Mills Launch Free Reusable Shopping Bag Cross-Promotion For Earth Day

Two New Bills in California State Assembly Would Put 25-Cent Per Bag Fee on Both Single-Use Plastic and Paper Carrier Bags

The authors of the bag-fee bills working there way through the California State Assembly in Sacramento hope if passed the legislation will make the message on the reusable bag above a reality in the Golden State. [The bag pictured above is available here.]

Special Report: Carrier Bag Legislation -- California

Two nearly identical bills that if passed would require supermarkets, large drug stores and convenience store chains to charge shoppers 25-cents for each single-use plastic carrier bag and paper grocery bag they request are currently working their way through the California State Assembly in Sacramento.

The first piece of legislation, AB 2058, is authored by Assembly Member Julia Brownley (Democrat), who represents the 41rst Assembly District, which includes the Southern California cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Encino, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Oak Park, Oxnard, Pacific Palisades, Port Hueneme, Santa Monica, Tarzana, Topanga, Westlake Village and Woodland Hills.

The second, nearly identical bill, AB 87, is authored by Assemblyman Mike Davis (Democrat), who represents Assembly District 48, which includes numerous communities in Los Angeles County.

Both bills would if passed require the retailers to charge customers a fee of 25-cents for each single-use plastic carrier bag and paper grocery sack they request at checkout. That amount is subject to being modified as the bills work through the various Assembly committees.

The two bills are being discussed and debated this week in the Assembly Natural Resources Committee. Assembly Member Brownley is a member of that committee.

It's expected that the two bills will eventually be merged into a single bill, most probably AB 2058, then co-authored and supported by both Brownley and Davis, along with picking up additional co-authors. Both AB 2058 and AB 87 currently have co-authors.

We believe that both bills, or a merged single bill, will be approved by the Natural Resources Committee. The committee would then send the bill to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for discussion and an eventual vote. If passed in Appropriations, the committe would then mark the bill up for an eventual vote by the whole Assembly.

A similar bill, AB 2050, which carried a 15-cent per bag charge as its central feature, was passed out of committee in 2008 and was set to be voted on by the full Assembly. [Read our reports here - April 20, 2008: Earth Day 2008: California Bag-Fee Bill AB 2058 Passes California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee; Next Stop Appropriations Committee; and here - April 13, 2008: April 13, 2008: California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee to Vote on Statewide 25-cent Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag-Fee on Monday.]

However the bill, along with numerous others, was never voted on in the 2008 session because of the budget stalemate the California Assembly and Senate were in at the time. Because the legislature was so late in reaching a budget agreement, any bills that hadn't been voted on by the whole Assembly were shelved.

Assembly Members Brownley and Davis introduced the two new bag fee bills into the 2009 session.

A key feature of the bills is that the fee applies to both plastic and paper bags. This is because a central feature of the legislation is to encourage shoppers to bring reusable shopping bags to the store with them.

Supermarkets and large drug chains in California are required by state law to sell reusable bags in the stores.

They also are required to have recycling bins in the stores so that customers can return single-use plastic carrier bags to the stores for recycling. Unlike the case with paper grocery bags, which are excepted in every California city that has a curbside recycling program, which are most, few if any of the curbside recycling programs accept the single-use plastic bags for recycling,

It's too early to tell for sure but our analysis is that the single-use plastic carrier bag fee legislation has a high probability of passing in the full Assembly. If that happens, the legislation would then go to the California State Senate for debate and eventual vote. In order to become law a bill must be passed by both bodies and signed by the Governor.

Many California retailers, particular chains that operate stores throughout many cities in the state, are supporting the legislation because they want a uniform law (as uniform as you can get since cities in California can still pass their own municipal bag fee laws or bans under what's called "home rule" in the Golden State) rather than having to deal with a patchwork quilt of different plastic bag fee laws and bans in cities throughout the state.

Many retailers also prefer the bag fee over outright bag ban laws which a have now passed in cities like San Francisco, Manhattan Beach and Palo Alto. Numerous other cities are discussing enacting either single-use plastic carrier ban laws or bag fee legislation.

There also appears from our research to be a majority consensus in both the Democrat majority Assembly and Democrat majority State Senate that a statewide bag fee law should be passed this year, despite the economic recession.

It is possible though that the 25-cent per bag fee could be reduced -- say to 15-cents -- as a way to gain consensus in the Assembly. Last year's bill, AB 2050, has a 15-cent per bag fee attached to it.

We expect either both AB 2058 and AB 87, or a combined bill, to be sent to the Assembly Appropriations Committee for debate and discussion as early as today or tomorrow. Appropriations decides when to discuss and debate bills sent to it from other committees.

Fresh & Easy Buzz will be follwing the bills as they work through the California Legislature, and will keep out readers informed of the status.

Paper, plastic or reusable bags?

Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market offers only free single-use plastic carrier bags in its 118 grocery and fresh foods stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, unlike nearly all of its competitors, which offer a choice of free plastic or paper.

About half of Tesco's current 118 Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market stores are in Southern California (and three in Bakersfield). The other about half are split between Metropolitan Pheonix, Arizona and southern Nevada.

Like all major food and grocery retailers in California, Fresh & Easy offers reusable carrier bags for sale in its stores.

The grocer offers an inexpensive reusable bag it calls "Bag for Life" for 20-cents each. The bags are made out of a clear, plastic-like material. Fresh & Easy offers to replace the bag for free whenever it wears out. The bags are popular in the United Kingdom, where Tesco is based.

[Strategic suggestion: If the 25-cent per single-use carrier bag fee legislation becomes law, Tesco's Fresh & Easy could eliminate single-use plastic carrier bags completely in its stores and sell only the reusable "Bags for Life" for 20-cents each, the current price. It's even 5-cents cheaper than the single-use plastic bags would be under the law. In fact, this is something all grocers in California could adopt. It's actually a good reason for the supermarket, drug and convenience store retailing industry in California to support the bag-free legislation. And the single-use plastic bag manufacturers could transition to making the "Bags for Life." Some already make them. We think its a good idea -- and a much "greener" one than at present. And it would make the retailers look less like the bad guys when it comes to the single-use plastic bag issue.]

Fresh & Easy also offers an inexpensive reusable canvas tote bag ,which it sells for 99-cents each, along with a couple other canvas bag offerings.

In Ireland, which passed a bag-fee law a few years ago, the government says that sense the legislation was passed, single-use plastic carrier bag use by retailers (and thus consumers) has decreased by a whopping 94%

Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market, which self-banned single-use plastic carrier bags in its stores a year ago on Earth Day 2008, says since doing so it's seen customer-use of reusable bags triple in its stores.

The natural grocery chain, which has 297 stores (over 50 in California) and $8 billion in annual revenue, also says in the year since eliminating the single-use plastic carrier bags it's diverted about 150 million of the bags from landfills but not offering the thin bags in its stores. Whole Foods Market still offers customers free paper grocery bags, which are made out of at least 50% post-consumer recycled paper and are 100% recyclable, in its stores. [Fresh & Easy Buzz - April 9, 2009: Competitor News: One Year Since Eliminating Plastic Bags in Stores Whole Foods Market Says Reusable Bag Use Tripled; 150 Million Bags Out of Landfills.]

Whole Foods' gives shoppers who bring their own bags at least 5-cents per bag credit off their grocery orders for each bag used as a way to offer an incentive for reusable bag use. West Sacramento-based Raley's supermarkets also does this, as do a growing number of other grocers.

Related stories:

>April 9, 2009: Competitor News: One Year Since Eliminating Plastic Bags in Stores Whole Foods Market Says Reusable Bag Use Tripled; 150 Million Bags Out of Landfills

April 8, 2009: News & Analysis: Tesco's Fresh & Easy Gets Reprieve As Manhattan Beach, California Plastic Bag Ban Law Held Up By Plastic Bag Industry Group's Lawsuit

>April 28, 2008: April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Whole Foods Market, Inc. Becomes the First Major U.S. Food and Grocery Retailer to Stop Using Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags Tomorrow

>March 19, 2009: Another Tesco Fresh & Easy Future Market City Bans the (Plastic) Bag: No Plastic Carrier Bags In Palo Alto, CA Supermarkets Starting September 18th

>March 7, 2009: Analysis & Commentary: The Seven Retail Operations Changes Tesco's Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market Needs to Make to Help it Get On the Success Track

>December 7, 2008: Fresh & Easy Offers New Definition of 'Double Bagging;' Says Sales of Reusable Bags Has Doubled Since Introducing its 99-Cent Bag in October

>August 13, 2008: Tesco to Offer Shoppers Free Plastic Bags in UK Stores Only if Requested; Still Offering Plastic Bags-Only in Fresh & Easy USA Stores; No Paper Option

>August 1, 2008: Bag Bans and Fees: Seattle, Washington Imposes 20-Cent Fee On Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bags; Bans the Use of Foam Meat Trays in Supermarkets

>July 23, 2008: Plastic or Plastic: Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag Bans in California Cities Threatening Tesco Fresh & Easy's Free 'Plastic Bag-Only' Policy

>September 25, 2008: Competitor News: Wal-Mart Joins Tesco, Others in Announcing A Plastic Bag Reduction Program of its Own

>April 20, 2008: Earth Day 2008: California Bag-Fee Bill AB 2058 Passes California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee; Next Stop Appropriations Committee

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: City of Los Angeles, CGA and Southern California Grocery Chains Partner in Major Reuseable Shopping Bag Giveaway Promotion

>April 18, 2008: Earth Day 2008: New Issues Are Beginning to Emerge With Growing Consumer Use of Reusable Shopping Bags: Worker Injuries, Shoplifting, 'Double-Bagging'

>April 24, 2008: Legislation: Oakland, California's Plastic Grocery Bag Ban Law Not in the 'Bag' Yet

>April 13, 2008: California State Assembly Natural Resource Committee to Vote on Statewide 25-cent Single-Use Plastic Carrier Bag-Fee on Monday

>March 15, 2008: UK 'Banish The (Plastic) Bags' Campaign Update: Morrison's Latest to Make Announcement; Tesco Holds Firm

>March 5, 2008: Britain's 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign and Tesco: London Street Artist 'Celebrates' the Tesco Plastic Bag; More UK Retailers to Charge Bag Fee

>March 8, 2008: More UK Retailers Jump On The 'Banish The (Plastic) Bag' Campaign.

>March 4, 2008: "Message From Across the Pond: Tesco is Right Square in the Middle of the 'Banish the (Plastic) Bags' Campaign in the United Kingdom

>May 1, 2008: Green Retailing Report: UK Supermarket Chain Waitrose Creates A 'Reusable-Bag Only' 'Green' Checkout Lane in One of Its Stores

>April 21, 2008: Earth Day 2008: Massachusetts'-Based Stop & Shop Supermarket Chain and General Mills Launch Free Reusable Shopping Bag Cross-Promotion For Earth Day

Earth Day 2009 is Tuesday, April 22.

[Follow Fresh & Easy Buz around on Twitter.com at www.twitter.com/freshneasybuzz.]