Council to vote on bill amending plastic bag ban law

Baltimore County Councilman Todd Crandell wants to amend a law banning plastic bags that advocates and the county executive say will gut the original law.

Crandell, a Dundalk Republican, introduced legislation earlier this month amending the Bring Your Own Bag Act, which the Baltimore County Council passed in February. The bag law, which is set to go into effect Nov. 1, prevents businesses such as grocery stores and restaurants from offering plastic carryout bags and requires them to charge customers a minimum of 5 cents for paper or reusable bags.

Councilman Mike Ertel, of Towson, initially introduced that legislation after he said he had heard complaints from district residents about plastic bags littering their streets. Councilmen Izzy Patoka, of Pikesville, and David Marks, of Perry Hall, also supported the bill.

Under Crandell’s legislation, liquor stores would be exempt from both the plastic bag ban and the requirement to charge for paper bags. Businesses that sell food would also be exempt from the paper bag charge requirement. It would also require businesses to sell plastic bags that are thicker than 2.6 mils, a unit of measurement used to determine the thickness of film per thousandths of an inch.

The Council discussed Crandell’s bill at its Tuesday work session, where the councilman said he had brought it forth as an attempt to “rectify” where he thought the original law had erred, by “singling” out liquor stores whose products were better transported via plastic bags than paper or reusable ones.

Crandell’s bill “would greatly reduce the environmental benefits of the Bring Your Own Bag Act,” said Suzanne Richardson, a Pikesville resident and Sierra Club representative.

“The proposal to allow plastic bags greater than 2.6 mils with no requirement that they be designed for multiple reuse substantially undermines the act,” she said.

County executive Johnny Olszewski Jr., a Democrat, said in a tweet Monday that he opposed Crandell’s bill, which would “weaken” the original law.

“[I] will veto any measure that has that effect,” Olszewski wrote.

Council Chair Julian Jones Jr., who cast a dissenting vote against the original bill along with Crandell, reiterated his concern that banning plastic bags would unfairly burden businesses that didn’t want to pass on extra charges to customers.

Crandell said he had voted against the original bill not because he was against plastics but because “the bill went entirely too far in terms of charging citizens who are working very hard for each and every dollar they make.”

The Baltimore County Council will vote on Crandell’s bill Sept. 5.