Petition revives bag ban proposal

Measure to go before Legislature despite rejection by committee

KINGSTON, N.Y. » The Ulster County Legislature will take up a proposal to ban the use of plastic bags by most retail outlets, even though the measure was blocked from going to the floor by a Legislature committee.

Legislator Tracey Bartels, who, along with Legislator David Donaldson, sponsored the proposed law, was able to force the bill onto the Legislature’s August agenda by executing a “petition to discharge,” a procedural move that allows a legislator to bring a measure to the floor by gathering the signatures of eight legislators on a petition.

Getting the bill to the floor, though, does not guarantee a vote. The Legislature could vote to

return it to committee.

The proposed law, known as the Bring Your Own Bag Act, would ban the use of single-use plastic shopping bags in Ulster County; would require stores to

charge 5 cents for recyclable paper bags provided to customers; and would fine stores that violate the law.

Restaurants located outside of grocery stores, supermarkets, convenience stores or food marts would be exempt.

The measure failed by a 3-3 vote in the Legislature’s Laws and Rules Committee

on July 16, keeping it off the Legislature’s July 17 agenda.

Opponents expressed concern over the 5-cent paper bag fee that would be charged to those who don’t bring reusable bags. They said the fee would hit the poorest people in the community the hardest.

Some lawmakers also questioned why the law

would exempt restaurants and whether individuals who purchased oversized items would be inconvenienced because their items wouldn’t fit into a reusable bag.

Supporters, though, said similar laws have been successfully enacted in communities across the country, and they rejected the

suggestion that the law would hurt poor people.

“It’s not new, it’s happening in many places throughout the country,” said Donaldson, D-Kingston. “People will learn how to deal with it.”

“There’s always going to be a difficult circumstance, or unusual, but people make a change,” agreed Bartels,

a non-enrolled voter from Gardiner. “People make adjustments.”

At a public hearing in June, only three of 22 speakers opposed the proposed law. Opponents included the head of the New York State Association of Convenience Stores and the store manager of ShopRite in the town of Ulster.