A new bill seeks to ban all plastic shopping bags in California in 2026.
Sen. Catherine Blakespear (D-Encinitas), Sen. Ben Allen (D-Santa Monica), and Assemblymember Rebecca Bauer-Kahan (D-Orinda) introduced SB 1053 and AB 2236 Thursday.
The legislation aims to stop “the use of plastic film bags that are currently sold at checkout to consumers by most stores.”
On Sept. 30, 2014, then-Governor Jerry Brown signed a bill banning single-use plastic bags. The bags currently used at stores may be thicker, but lawmakers say the bags are still harmful to planet.
“A plastic bag has an average lifespan of 12 minutes and then it is discarded, often clogging sewage drains, contaminating our drinking water and degenerating into toxic microplastics that fester in our oceans and landfills for up to 1,000 years,” Sen. Blakespear said. “It’s time to improve on California’s original plastic bags ban and do it right this time by completely eliminating plastic bags from being used at grocery stores.”
One man told KNX News Jon Baird he thinks it’s time to stop using the plastic bags once and for all.
“I live here and work close by the bay and I have [the plastic bags] close by the water,” he said. “I really, really would like to see them banished.”
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