Beating a Dead Horse: Isn’t News Her Not Backing the Ban?

Author of Bag Ban Bill Hails Los Angeles County’s Approval of Bag Ban

LOS ANGELES—Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, hailed today’s vote by Los Angeles County to ban single-use bags as a significant victory toward a statewide prohibition on one of the biggest sources of pollution in California.

“This is just the beginning of a wave of bans against single-use plastic bags across California,” Assemblymember Brownley said. “The plastic bag industry’s millions of dollars spent lobbying against these bans can’t stop this movement. Californians are tired of wasting millions of dollars every year cleaning up plastic bag pollution and they are switching to reusable bags.”

Brownley has worked for three years on legislation restricting or banning single-use bags, building a coalition of business, environmentalist and grassroots support for a statewide ban.

Brownley has vowed not to give up the fight to protect our fragile watersheds and oceans from these ubiquitous bags that kill marine life and have become a scourge on California. She said she will introduce legislation again to significantly reduce plastic bag pollution when lawmakers can no longer ignore the public’s demand for more sustainable communities.

Los Angeles County joins Malibu, San Francisco, Palo Alto and Fairfax in passing ordinances banning single-use plastic bags. Santa Monica, Marin, San Jose and Santa Clara also are considering bans this year.

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