By Nick Cahill
SACRAMENTO – California Gov. Jerry Brown on Thursday inked legislation aimed at breaking society’s “infatuation” with plastic straws.
Beginning in 2019, California’s full-service or dine-in restaurants can only give plastic straws to customers upon request.
After two warnings, restaurant owners would be fined $25 per day for violations with a maximum of $300 in fines per calendar year.
Fast-food and takeout restaurants are exempt from Assembly Bill 1884.
Fourth-term Gov. Brown hopes the measure will help change consumer habits and simultaneously clean up the world’s oceans.
“Plastic has helped advance innovation in our society, but our infatuation with single-use convenience has led to disastrous consequences,” Brown said in a signing letter. “One thing is clear, we must find ways to reduce and eventually eliminate single-use plastic products.”
Plastic straws are one of the most commonly found items during beach cleanups in California, according to state regulators. The bill mirrors those in cities like Davis and Malibu with “straw-upon-request” policies.
Assembly Majority Leader Ian Calderon, D-Whittier, says his bill is aimed at changing restaurants’ “default behavior” of handing out straws with every drink.
“It’s a small but significant step forward and will hopefully set the precedent for the rest of the nation to adopt similar policies that will ensure less plastic ends up harming the environment,” Calderon said in a statement.
The measure builds on a plastic bag ban approved by California voters in 2016. Proposition 67 requires grocery stores and other retailers to charge customers at least 10 cents per bag.
Calderon’s measure cleared the Legislature in a series of mostly party-line votes, with Republicans largely voting against it.
State Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado, voted against the proposal, saying that he would rather allow consumers and businesses to ditch plastic on their own.
“I’m very concerned about having a mandate come from the state that would impact businesses,” Gaines said in August.
Brown signed a total of 40 bills Thursday and vetoed six, including a measure that would have set start times at middle and high schools to no earlier than 8:30 a.m. He disagreed with a “one-size-fits-all approach” and wants to allow communities and school districts to continue setting their own schedules.
The California Teachers Association and the California School Boards Association opposed Senate Bill 328.
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33 Comments
Just another retarded law from the freaks in Sacramento
All because one turtle may or may not have been a cocaine user…….
Shane Weeks mic drop!
What’s next ?
Toilet paper will be banned ?
3 she shells
You get one square.
Besh St.John Elaine Bennis! ?
Next time I visit I think I will ask for several for those folks that don’t want one. That state????
But yet, take out food that used to be in styrofoam is now being put in plastic containers? go figure.
Idiots. Next they will ban forks for making people fat. Why not hold people accountable and teach them not to litter in the first place? Give a hoot, don’t pollute! :-)
if people would stop throwing there trash in the gutter , we wouldn’t have this problem
Ridiculous
Of course, we are the first for EVERYTHING
That’s fine , I’ll remember to put plastic straws in my purse for my kid.
???
No straws but we’ll give ya a syringe to shoot your dope….Just toss it wherever when you’re done…SMH
It only means you have to ask for a straw instead of being handed one automatically
Not totally correct. Certain establishments won’t hand them out even if you asked.
Do they serve on plastic plates & glasses, plastic utensils.
Gezzz
I am buying up all of the straws from the market. Will find that asshat Brown in a restaurant one day and offer to sell him and his party straws with their meal…
All you have to do is ask for one. That’s it. Anyone upset by this is clearly lazy.
Not correct. Even if you ask, there are establishments that don’t.
Nope. That’s not what this new law says. If a restaurant doesn’t carry them it’s not because of this new law.
But needles and sh*t on the sidewalks are ok. Got it!
Governor brown is an idiot can’t wait till he is gone out of his office he is bring California down down down worst governor ever ever ever forget about criminals get rid of straws looser
This is why I drive around throwing straws out the window
Love calif save are plant and oceans if we all help just a little
Let’s see what happens when I bring my own :)
Erika Smith Shari Barbosa-Smith
Of course !?
I had to ask for one on thursday.
why .
Ridiculous! What about the disabled or elderly who can only drink from a straw. I have a disabled adult child who needs a straw to drink by himself without he ends up with the drink all over the front of him. What about banning cigarettes because millions of cigarette butts end up in the ocean every year polluting it and killing ocean animals. Give me a break.