Plastic Bag Monies Axed From Budget Bill By Gov.

The Budget FY 2018 does not include language for the plastic bag fee. The bill, A3267 (Vainieri Huttle)/S2600 (Ruiz) was passed in both the Assembly and Senate. It establishes a fee on single-use carryout bags used in certain stores and dedicates fee revenue to “Healthy Schools and Community Lead Abatement Fund.” The bill imposes a 5-cent fee on single-use carry out bags. Governor Murphy has 45 days from passing to take action on the bill. The Governor has not sign the bill yet because it is still under technical review. Jeff Tittel, Director of the New Jersey Sierra Club released the following statement:

“In the budget that was just signed by the Governor, the language to divert the plastic bag fee money to the general fund was removed and the $23 million was not scored in the final budget. This is a win for the environment so far because language in the budget has been removed. This means they can’t steal the money, but more importantly the money is not included in the budget. The reason it was removed and not scored is because the Governor is still reviewing the bill. This could change depending on what he will do. This is more of a delay than a clear victory, but any delay is a win for now. We thank Governor Murphy for taking the language out and for removing the funding. We hope he doesn’t sign the bill, but we don’t know for sure. This could be a win if he vetoes or changes the bill but he could sign the bill and steal the money then.

“It’s good this bill has not been signed and they have not been grabbing the money yet. But we don’t know what Governor Murphy will do. We hope Governor Murphy vetoes or completely rewrites the bill in a conditional veto because we don’t want it passed it its current form. This bill will set us back from removing plastics in our environment. We need to keep fighting for a veto.

“If Governor Murphy signs the plastic bag fee bill in current form, it would be terrible for the environment, putting more plastic into waterways, harm wildlife, and increase fracking and fossil fuel use. The bill includes a preemption because that will block cities and towns from having plastic bans. Other places like Long Beach Twp., Monmouth Beach, and Edison are looking to ban plastic bags and this bill would prevent them from going forward. Cities like Jersey City and Hoboken have banned plastic bags. What is even worse is that they can still steal the money for the budget instead of it going towards Lead Abatement. They are hurting the people who have been impacted or poisoned by lead because those funds are supposed to be Lead Abatement but instead it will be used for the General Fund.

“There is no sunset provision in the bill, which means the fee for plastic bags can go on forever. Studies show that plastic bag fees don’t actually reduce plastic bag usage compared to a full ban. Under this bill, we would use 750 million plastic bags a year, that’s a lot of damage to the environment. Currently, supermarkets must pay for plastic bags but under this bill, they get a penney a bag. This means they have an incentive for using more plastic bags.

“Plastic is a serious public health and environmental risk and we should be taking the strongest efforts possible to get rid of it. When plastic breaks down into micro-pieces, animals like fish and birds ingest them and can enter our food chain. This is a huge human health risk because there are toxins in the plastic. The whale found with 17lbs of plastic in Thailand shows that this issue is getting worse. Animals, especially birds, get strangled and suffocated by plastic bags. It can take up to 1,000 years for plastic to decompose and end up in our in our landfills or break down into micro-pieces that contaminate ecosystems and environments. Plastic bags have been known to clog storm drains and fill up detention basins which affects our water quality. Because it is so bad, gm should veto this bill.

“We need Governor Murphy to veto this bill because it will not accomplish what it sets out to do and will make the situation worse. This is a shameful and damaging piece of legislation that will mean more plastic bags, more damage to the environment, and more money for supermarkets. Plastic is a serious public health and environmental risk and we should be taking the strongest efforts possible to get rid of it. We need Governor Murphy to support a statewide ban on single use plastics such as Smith’s bill. We’re urging Murphy to veto the fee bill, or re-write it to be more like the Smith bill. The bill must get rid of the preemption and include a 2 year sunset. The fee money should also be going towards Lead Abatement and not diverted to the general fund.  This is imperative to reduce the use of plastics in our environment, especially plastic bags and plastic straws.”

“The legislature is using the environment as the state’s slush fund. They have stolen over $430 million from the Clean Energy Fund, Volkswagen Settlement, and DEP programs. Instead of using the money for environmental purposes, New Jersey keeps using the money to balance the budget. We shouldn’t steal money that will go towards environmental purposes like fixing lead in schools.

“It would be good if the Governor vetoes the bill so we can start over fresh. But if he doesn’t, he must completely rewrite it through a CV by getting rid of the preemption, including a 2-year sunset where it becomes a ban, and put a fee on all other single use or reusable bags. If there is going to be a fee, it should be going were it is supposed to, to remove lead from homes and protect children’s drinking water.  We must move forward on a comprehensive ban like S2772 (Smith) on single use plastic bags, plastic straws, and polystyrene. Its too important and critical for our environment.