Dennis RomeroUPDATE: California's plastic bag ban has, in fact, been stopped in its tracks.
California's historic plastic bag ban—we're the first state in the union to say no to plastic, disposable bags at markets—could be overturned if you vote to do so.
The group Californians Against Waste says it expects opponents of the ban, including the plastic bag industry, to turn in enough signatures any day now to put the matter before statewide voters in November, 2016.
About 504,760 valid signatures from registered voters would have to be turned into the California Secretary of State. Opponents of the ban were expected to turn in more than 700,000.
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The idea is to let the voters decide.
The state's ban was accomplished legislatively, with Gov. Jerry Brown signing the bill by L.A. area Sens. Alex Padilla, Kevin de Leon and Ricardo Lara in September.
The pro-ban group Californians Against Waste says that the industry has spent $3 million, or about $5 per signature, in its journey to put this before voters.
The organization alleges hanky-panky in the signature-gathering process. According to a statement:
Credit: Fairbank, Maslin, Maulin, Metz & Asociates
Last week, we filed a complaint with the Secretary of State's office with dozens of complaints from voters citing deception by signature gatherers. We are hopeful that the Secretary of State will launch a vigorous investigation into these claims, which show how desperate signature gatherers were in trying to convince voters to sign petitions.
In any case, the pro-ban folks don't think this would have a chance if you voted on it. They cite a recent poll of 600 California voters that found 60 percent would vote “yes” to reaffirm the ban.
Of course, the language of the initiative could press you to vote “yes” on overturning the ban.
Stay tuned.
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