City Council
MEETING DATE: 7/22/2015
TITLE:
Title
Second Reading of an Ordinance Regulating Single Use Carryout Plastic Bags.
End
FROM:
Pat Milos, Community Development Director
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Staff recommends the City Council conduct second reading and approve the attached ordinance regulating single use carryout plastic bags.
Body
BACKGROUND:
As the City Council may recall, the California Legislature previously enacted a ban on the use of reusable plastic bags and imposed a requirement that customers be charged a minimum of 10 cents for paper bags in stores. However, a subsequent initiative petition relating to that matter has been placed on the November, 2016, statewide ballot and the statute has been placed on hold pending the election.
At the City Council's May 27, 2015, meeting, staff presented ordinances from the cities of Desert Hot Springs, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, and Indio, each of which implement the same ban proposed under the State law, but at the local level. The City Council subsequently directed that an ordinance based on those of the other local cities be prepared and brought back to the City Council for consideration. The proposed ordinance is substantively identical to that enacted in Palm Springs, and differs only very slightly from those enacted in the other three cities.
DISCUSSION:
The proposed ordinance contains the following provisions:
A finding that single use plastic bags are a public nuisance, harming quality of life and tourism.
Single use plastic bags are prohibited.
Recycled paper bags may be provided to customers at a charge of at least 10 cents, and the charge must be listed separately on the sales receipt. Stores must keep records of the total number of paper bags provided, the total amount of monies collected for providing recycled paper bags, and a summary of any efforts the store has made to promote the use of recyclable bags by customers in the prior c...
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