SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A trade group has turned in enough signatures to put a referendum on California’s plastic bag ban on the November 2016 ballot, suspending implementation of the nation’s first statewide ban until voters can weigh in, state elections officials said Tuesday.

The plastic bag manufacturing trade group American Progressive Bag Alliance had 555,000 of the roughly 505,000 valid signatures needed to qualify the referendum after a random sample of the signatures, said Bill Mabie, chief deputy for Secretary of State Alex Padilla. The group had submitted more than 800,000 at the end of 2014.

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Plastic bags would be phased out of many California stores under a new state law, but a trade group has garnered enough support for referendum to block the move. The Associated Press

PORTLAND'S BAG FEE STARTS APRIL 15

Portland has also taken action against plastic bags and, starting April 15, consumers will be charged a nickel for every disposable shopping bag they get. The fee will apply at stores where food – including milk, bread, soda and snacks – constitutes at least 2 percent of gross sales.
The fee will be charged for both plastic and paper bags, with the stores keeping the money. Dry cleaners, restaurants and farmers markets will be exempt.
In addition, a citywide ban on foam containers for food and beverages will start on April 15.

After one of the fiercest legislative battles of 2014, pitting bag-makers against environmentalists, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the bill last fall. It was scheduled to be phased in starting in July at large grocery stores and supermarkets as a way to cut down on litter and protect marine life.

But the American Progressive Bag Alliance said the ban amounts to a cash giveaway to grocers that would lead to job losses.

“California voters will now have the chance to vote down a terrible law that, if implemented, would kill 2,000 local manufacturing jobs and funnel obscene profits to big grocers without any money going to a public purpose or environmental initiative,” the group’s executive director, Lee Califf, said in a news release.

Supporters of the statewide ban criticized manufacturers for spending millions on the referendum campaign in order to continue selling single-use plastic bags. “This is a cynical ploy by out-of-state interests desperate to delay a ban already adopted in more than 100 communities across California,” Brown’s spokesman Evan Westrup said.

Environmental activists have successfully pushed plastic bag bans in cities across the U.S., including Chicago; Austin, Texas; and Seattle.

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