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January 10, 2012
WA lawmaker to introduce a plastic bag ban bill
This Aug. 3, 2009, photo shows a clerk bagging groceries in plastic sacks at the M Street Grocery in Seattle.
(Full-size photo)
OLYMPIA — A Burien lawmaker says he plans to introduce a bill to ban plastic grocery bags statewide.
Democratic Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon said he would introduce the bill today. A press conference announcing the measure is scheduled for Thursday. The announcement comes three weeks after the Seattle City Council unanimously passed a plastic bag ban into law. Starting July 1, Seattle will become the fourth Washington city prohibiting grocery stores and retailers from providing plastic bags to shoppers.
Fitzgibbon’s bill would make Washington the first state in the country to ban plastic bags. But he concedes that his bill will face opposition, and that a statewide ban on plastic bags is likely years away.
Opponents of the proposed ban say it would limit consumer choice and represent an unnecessary government overreach.
© Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
AP: Gay marriage within reach in WA Legislature 
karl2002 on January 10 at 3:35 p.m.
This is the kind of cr*p that is really a waste of time. Why don’t we go ahead and ban cardboard boxes at the same time and make all the suppliers employ reusable containers.
lowtechmaster on January 10 at 3:54 p.m.
That should fix the budget problems!!
TheRoo on January 10 at 3:56 p.m.
Sheesh! I can remember when we just had to have plastic bags to save all the trees.
How times change.
polistra on January 10 at 4:42 p.m.
Idiot. Those reusable cloth bags are unsanitary. This will be good business for hospitals and doctors, not good for anyone else.
Pete43 on January 10 at 4:48 p.m.
One of the reasons lawmakers never get the job done.
richardch on January 10 at 5:14 p.m.
Nanny state bull. Please stay on the other side of the mountains with this useless drivel, while the budget goes bankrupt.
reservedparking on January 10 at 5:43 p.m.
How about we focus on the higher priority stuff first?
my plastic bags get recycled & made in to park benches, anyway. I also use them as garbage bags around the house.
WTH, I can always shop in Idaho.
force_vector on January 10 at 5:43 p.m.
Nice to see Rep. Fitzgibbon has his priorities straight. Figure out the budget, moron.
Albert on January 10 at 6:03 p.m.
Question #1: What will the pot dispensers use in lieu of plastic baggies?
Question #2: Does he know the fellow who was “marketing” his products on the courthouse lawn? I think so.
catfuzz on January 10 at 7:10 p.m.
I agree with everything said so far. What a stupid waste of time. Why don’t they work on passing legislation that will directly create jobs like the one Speaker Chopp let die last year that immediately put me out of work along with hundreds of others who literally had to move to Oregon to get work. Nope, the horror of plastic bags must be addressed NOW.
gmorton on January 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Rep Fitzgibbon needs to get a life.
Oh, forgot – he’s statist. Running other people’s lives *is* his life.
dataxman on January 10 at 7:52 p.m.
Pass the ban and we will adapt. 20 years ago they got rid of the clam shell Big Mac containers and the world was to end at that time. Society adapted - as we will again.
ericdx on January 10 at 8:00 p.m.
Didn’t they just say they were going to concentrate on fixing the budget? I would say the Legislature has the attention span of a two year old, but that would be a put down to two year olds.
Get a clue Fitzgibbon, you f-ing TOOL!!! Do REAL work, not more worthless BS!!!
pmbrown49 on January 10 at 8:01 p.m.
These plastic bags have tons of good uses after bagging groceries:
1. Dog poop container
2. Household clean-up bag
3. Putting over the heads of legislators who want to run every aspect of our lives.
drwonderful on January 10 at 8:02 p.m.
Will someone please give this man something to do!
soundbarrier on January 10 at 8:22 p.m.
If people would stop being slobs and littering the State with plastic bags, this idea would be unnecessary. Stop the littering people. Reusing plastic bags as trash bags is just throwing the bag away. Instead of throwing it away empty, it’s thrown away with trash inside.
reservedparking on January 10 at 9:04 p.m.
This is hilarious - a story that will end up going nowhere, and nowhere on the S-R’s webpage ‘front page’ is there any national news at all. Nothing about the current political issues (aka NH primary??) C’mon, S-R dot com, you can do better than this!
ericdx on January 10 at 9:28 p.m.
Actually, reservedparking, they cant. Havn’t you heard? In a cost cutting measure, all of the older, somewhat competent reporters and editors have been replaced by incompetents who cant get a better job, middle school students, and one desparate Husky who was faced with “write the Cougar Sports beat or starve.” Frankly, after the article he wrote when he was with the UW student paper, I would rather he starved.
reservedparking on January 10 at 9:48 p.m.
I try to keep my comments in a positive ‘you can do better’ perspective. Hope springs eternal. This page format appears to be flexible enough to add a ‘national’ section to the front page. Let this post serve as a suggestion to do just that.