sr-062210-13g13-G
June 22, 2010
Council Meeting: Santa Monica, California
CITY CLERK'S OFFICE -MEMORANDUM
To: City Council
From: Councilmembers Bloom and O'Day
Mayor Pro Tem O'Connor
Date: June 22, 2010
13-G: Request of Councilmembers Bloom and O'Day, and of Mayor Pro Tem
O'Connor to adopt a resolution supporting AB 1998 (Brownley) which would
create a statewide ban on the distribution of single use carry-out bags.
INFORMATION
AB 1998 is generally consistent with Santa Monica's draft ordinance which would ban
single use plastic carry-out bags at all stores in the city and place a fee on single use
paper bags distributed by grocery stores, convenience stores and pharmacies. The
draft ordinance was brought to Council for a first reading in January 2009 but on the
advice of the City Attorney the first reading was postponed until an Environmental
Impact Report could be completed. The Draft EIR was completed and made available
for public review on June 7, 2010. Public review will close on July 22, 2010 and staff
plans to return to Council in September 2010 to certify the EIR and hold a first reading
of the ordinance.
Existing law requires an operator of a store, as defined, to establish an at-store
recycling program that provides to customers the opportunity to return clean plastic
carryout bags to that store. This requirement is repealed on January 1, 2013. AB 1998
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would repeal those at-store recycling program requirements on January 1, 2011, and
would instead, on and after January 1, 2012, prohibit certain types of stores, as defined,
from providing asingle-use carryout bag to a customer. The bill would, on and after July
1, 2013, prohibit convenience food stores, foodmarts, and certain specified stores from
providing asingle-use carryout bag to a customer. The bill would require a store, on
and after July 1, 2013, to only provide reusable bags; as defined, or to make available
for sale recycled paper bags at a reasonable cost, but not less than $0.05. The bill
would, beginning January 1, 2013, require a reusable bag manufacturer to obtain a
biennial certification from the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery by
submitting a certification fee and. a certification that its reusable bag meets specified
requirements. This bill would preempt local regulations on the use and sales of
reusable bags, single-use carryout bags, recycled paper bags, or other specified bags
at stores, as defined, thus invalidating Santa Monica's ordinance if it is adopted prior to
the adoption of AB 1998.
The primary difference between AB 1998 and Santa Monica's draft ordinance is in
regard to regulation of single use paper bags. Santa Monica's ordinance would impose
a fee on single use paper bags on the order of $0.20 to $0.25, a portion of which would
accrue to the City. AB 1998 does not impose a fee on paper bags, however it prohibits
their free distribution and requires that they be sold at a "reasonable cost" of at least
$0.05. In most other aspects the ordinance and AB 1998 are essentially the same.
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Reference Resolution No.
10500 (CCS).