How Do We Feel About Prop 23? We are Philosophically Opposed.

There's been some confusion on how Surfrider Foundation feels about Proposition 23. Some previous posts were a bit more strongly worded than we would have liked and we felt that there was a need to clarify our position. Surfrider Foundation agrees that this is very important statewide legislation and we are philosophically opposed to Prop 23 (as you can see from our Global Warming Policy linked here: http://www.surfrider.org/policy_gw.asp). However, Surfrider Foundation is also required to make a concerted effort to limit the amount of legislative advocacy that we do in the State of California. For IRS tax purposes of being a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, we must limit our legislative advocacy to an "insubstantial" amount.

This year, we have chosen to support very few bills that fit directly in line with our coastal advocacy programs, such as AB 1998 to ban single-use plastic bags. This bill directly addressed a primary source of marine debris found on our beaches. We also supported AB 1834, which is a bill that affirmed people's right to collect rainwater, consistent with the water runoff and conservation measures of our Know Your H2O program. For more information on these programs, visit www.riseaboveplastics.blogspot.com and http://www.knowyourh2o.org/

Do YOU Live Here? South Bay and Imperial Riverside Counties!

Do you live here? This is the 40th Senatorial District of California, home of Senator

Denise Moreno Ducheny. If you live here or own a business here, we need your support to ask Senator Ducheny to back AB 1998, legislation that would eliminate single-use plastic bags certain stores.

See facts on the bill here and here and a suggested form letter for a business.

Please write and give Senator Ducheny a call locally at

Chula Vista District Office

637 3rd Ave.,
Suite A-1
Chula Vista, CA 91910
(619) 409-7690
(619) 409-7688 fax

El Centro District Office

1224 State St.,
Suite D
El Centro, CA 92243
(760) 335-3442
(760) 335-3444 fax

Coachella District Office

53990 Enterprise Way,
Suite 14
Coachella, CA 92236
(760) 398-6442
(760) 398-6470 fax

Do YOU Live Here? North County!

Do you live here? This is the 38th Senatorial District of California, home of Senator

Mark Wyland. If you live here or own a business here, we need your support to ask Senator Wyland to back AB 1998, legislation that would eliminate single-use plastic bags certain stores.

See facts on the bill here and here and a suggested form letter for a business.

Please give Senator Wyland a call locally at

Carlsbad Office

1910 Palomar Point Way, #105
Carlsbad, CA 92008
Phone: (760) 931-2455
Fax: (760) 931-2477

AB 1998 Fact Sheet

Revised 7/16/10

ASSEMBLY BILL 1998

Single-Use Bag Reduction Act

WHAT THE BILL WOULD DO:

Existing law requires an operator of a store, as defined, to establish an at-store recycling program that provides to customers the opportunity to return clean plastic carryout bags to that store. This requirement is repealed on January 1, 2013.

This bill would repeal those at-store recycling program requirements on January 1, 2011, and would instead, on and after January 1, 2012, prohibit a store of a certain size (July 1, 2013 for smaller stores), as defined, from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer and mandate that the store offer reusable bags or recycled paper bags (at 5 cents each) for sale.

WHY THE BILL IS NEEDED:

• To reduce the ever increasing amount of marine debris in our oceans and waterways. According to the California Coastal Commission, the majority of marine debris is composed of plastic materials; 60 to 80 percent overall and 90 percent of floating debris

• To stem the pollution resulting from an low recycling rate of 5% with bags ending up in our landfills or the environment

• To recognize that The North Pacific Gyre in the Pacific Ocean is home to the largest accumulation of plastic pollution, now estimated to be the size of the United States and is increasing rapidly.

• To address the threat to 267 species of wildlife, from marine debris through ingestion or entanglement, including sea turtles, fish, marine mammals, and various species of sea birds.

• Plastics made from bio-based sources that are marketed as "compostable" or "biodegradable" are not environmentally sound alternatives to plastic carryout bags because they have not been shown to degrade in aquatic environments and require conditions only available in composting facilities to rapidly break down into constituents that assimilate back into the environment. Most Californians lack access to composting facilities capable of accepting compostable plastic bags.

• Paper bags made from virgin materials are not environmentally sound alternatives to plastic carryout bags because the production of these types of bags contributes to deforestation, natural resource depletion, greenhouse gas emissions, and waterborne wastes.

• Recycled content paper carryout bags are recyclable and have fewer negative impacts than virgin paper bags, recycled content paper carryout bags are not environmentally sound alternatives to plastic carryout bags, because the production of these types of bags contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and waterborne wastes.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Register your Business Support