The New York City Council introduced a bill (Intro 0209-2014) "Reducing the use of carryout bags" today which will ultimately, if passed into law, result in your being charged a new disposable paper/plastic bag "green surcharge" of "not less than ten cents for each carryout disposable paper/plastic bag provided..." for your purchases.
This new disposable paper/plastic bag "green surcharge" law, if enacted, is aimed primarily at supermarket operations and will not apply to any disposable paper/plastic bags "without handles" provided by the store to hold fresh produce, meat, fish or non-packaged dry-goods to prevent such food or dry-goods from coming into contact with other purchased articles or "prescription drugs" from the Pharmacy area.
Also, according to the bill, the new disposable paper/plastic bag "green surcharge" will not be collected from customers who:
a. pay for their purchases, either partially or in full, using state or city provided nutritional assistance funds (food stamps). or,
b. who provide their own bags (plastic or otherwise) to carry out their purchases.
Additionally, mobile food vendors will also be exempted from collecting this new disposable paper/plastic bag "green surcharge".
The money generated by this new law, if it is enacted, will not go to the city treasury but become part of the gross revenue being generated by each supermarket or business; however, each business will have to report to the city the exact percentage of their gross revenue generated by this disposable paper/plastic bag surcharge.
If this bill becomes law, any store found in violation will be subject to an initial warning and then fines ranging from $250 to $500 for additional violations.
The bill has been referred to the City Council's Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management who will now have to conduct committee hearings on the bill and then ultimately table, amend or approve it.
At that point the bill, if approved by the committee will be presented to the entire City Council for a hearing and vote.
If the entire Council approves the bill, it will then be presented to Mayor de Blasio who can either sign it into law or veto it and return it to the council.
A similar bill to this one was introduced to the City Council back in 2008 but never garnered the needed support for passage.
The bill as introduced (Intro #0209-2014) is provided below in a pdf reader.
Legislation Details Intro 0209-2014 (With Text) (1) (1)
They need to stop it. We need to consider the negative impact this will have on elderly shoppers who will feel that 10 cent charge, each and every time they shop for the 3 or 4 things they can carry.
ReplyDeleteI have to say that I think something should have been done about the plastic bags a long time ago. Of course, the city at once frames this issue according to its class warfare terms. Hence, food stamp recipients, and mobile food cart vendors will be exempt. All other consumers will get hit with the 10 cent charge, and markets and supermarkets will get hit with a 250 to 500 dollar fine.
ReplyDelete