Breaking up (with bag bans and taxes)
Romance is in the air this Valentine's Day -- but anti-bag advocates don't have a lot to celebrate this year. From coast to coast, bag bans and taxes are being dumped. Here's what's happening in regional anti-bag legislation:
- In Virginia, the House Finance Committee unanimously voted down a proposed ordinance to impose a statewide 5-cent tax on plastic grocery bags. With more than 800 bag recycling locations across the state, Virginia's leading the way on choosing recycling instead of regressive bans and taxes.
- Washington's elected officials failed to act on proposed anti-bag legislation -- the second year in a row that Washington state has said no to bag bans and taxes. Without enough support, the bills fizzled in committee.
- In Maryland, a Prince George's County subcommittee voted down a countywide bag tax at its first go-around -- a nickel on every paper and plastic bag county residents use, with no regard to the local manufacturing industry or the additional hardship this puts on residents. The bill isn't officially dead yet, but one delegate said bag tax opponents outnumbered supporters by more than 10 to 1.
It may be Valentine's Day, but anti-bag advocates aren't getting much love. They're proposing bans and taxes, but legislators across the country -- and citizens, too -- are saying "I don't" instead of "I do."
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