SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — It could soon cost California shoppers
at the checkout aisle if they forget to bring their own bags to the
store under what would be the nation’s first statewide plastic bag
ban.

The California Assembly on Wednesday passed legislation
prohibiting pharmacies and grocery, liquor and convenience stores
from giving out plastic bags. The bill also calls for customers to
be charged for using store-issued paper bags.

The goal is to get rid of unsightly disposable plastic bags that
often wind up in urban rivers and the ocean, as well as to reduce
the number of bags heading for landfills.

“The biggest way to eliminate this kind of pollution is to ban
it,” said Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica, who
authored the bill.

Discouraging plastic bag use through fees or bans first gained
traction outside of the U.S. in nations such as South Africa,
Ireland, China and Bangladesh.

In 2007, San Francisco became the first U.S. city to require
supermarkets and large drug stores to offer customers bags made
only of recyclable paper, plastic that can be turned into compost,
or sturdy cloth or plastic that can be reused.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. got rid of plastic bags at three of its
Northern California stores this January as part of a pilot program
to gauge customer response.

No other U.S. state has adopted a ban, according to Brownley’s
office.

The bill, AB 1998, still needs state Senate approval. Gov.
Arnold Schwarzenegger praised the Assembly for passing the plastic
bag ban, which he called “a great victory for our environment.”

Ashley Smith, 29, of Sacramento said she favors banning plastic
bags, even though she reuses her plastic bags to pick up after her
dog.

“It’s good to do things that are good for the environment,”
Smith said as she left a Safeway grocery store in Sacramento.

Requiring stores to charge customers for paper bags is a cost
Republican lawmakers argued some Californians can’t afford.

“This is not the time to be putting a financial burden on
families in a very tough economy,” said Assemblyman Ted Gaines,
R-Granite Bay, who estimated his family would spend $50 a year on
paper bags.

The American Chemistry Council estimates the bill would amount
to a $1 billion tax and threaten 500 jobs in the plastic bag
manufacturing business.

The measure has the support of the California Grocers
Association, which decided to the back the bill after Brownley
agreed to subject all stores that sell groceries to the ban.

It also gives grocery stores one set of rules to follow rather
than a patchwork of local ordinances, said Dave Heylen, spokesman
for the association.

“As more and more cities started looking at this, each one would
tweak it one way or another and that was extremely difficult for
those retailers who have stories in multiple cities and counties,”
Heylen said.

The bill would require stores to sell reusable bags beginning
Jan. 1, 2012. Stores could charge no less than 5 cents for recycled
paper bags if customers don’t have their own bag.

Sacramento shopper Brett Akacin, 37, said he recycles his
plastic bags and that it would be a burden to carry a disposable
bag. California grocery stores are required under current law to
collect used plastic bags that customers return to the store to
recycle.

“It’s a hassle. I don’t want to carry my own bag all the time
with me. I go into the store randomly, and I don’t like to pay
extra for a bag,” said Akacin, who had two bags of groceries. “I
think it’s the store’s responsibility.”