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

Please Help Us Pass AB 1998

Please help us pass AB 1998, the California bill that reduces plastic bag litter by banning single-use grocery bags, and adding a 5 cent fee for paper bags. The general public can take action by clicking here, but we especially need them from our business community. If you live or work in their district, please consider sending a letter from your firm in support of this bill.

A sample letter is provided. Please email it to 3 places:

1) Your Senator (http://www.leginfo.ca.gov/yourleg.html)

2) bob.franzoia@sen.ca.gov, the staffer on the Appropriations committee

3) AB1998@surfridersd.org

[Put this entire letter on your letterhead. Please fill in the parentheses, and feel free to change the language as you desire.]


[Insert full date here]

The Honorable [Your Senator’s Full Name Here]
State Capitol, Room [ room number goes here ]
Sacramento, CA 95814
Fax : (916) [ fax number goes here]

RE: AB 1998 (Brownley) Single-Use Bag Reduction Act - Support

Dear Senator [Last Name Here]:

On behalf of [Your Business Name Here], I am writing to express our support of the Single-Use Bag Reduction Act (Assembly Bill 1998) as amended.

I am a California business owner/operator in your Senate district and I support taking immediate action to ban plastic grocery bags. I believe that this is an issue that needs to be addressed at the state level to avoid piece-meal legislation that can lead to confusion. As you know, plastic bags are the most ubiquitous consumer item designed to last for minutes but may persist in our marine environment for hundreds of years. While our community has very strong waste diversion and recycling programs, we can not reasonably recycle our way out of the problem that plastic bags cause to our local marine environment.

Despite efforts to expand recycling programs, less than 5% of single-use plastic bags are currently being recycled. The rest of these bags end up in our landfills or as litter, clogging storm drain systems, and making their way to our waterways and ocean. It is estimated that 60–80% of all marine debris, and 90% of floating debris is plastic. Plastic lasts for hundreds of years in our environment and may never biodegrade in the ocean. As a result, it poses a persistent threat to wildlife. Plastic litter, including plastic bags, has impacted over 267 species worldwide.

Paper bags are not a viable alternative to plastic bags. Paper bag production contributes to deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, and waterborne wastes from the pulping and paper making process. Even compostable plastic bags made of plant-based sources have not proven to degrade in the ocean. Instead, they require industrial composting facilities, and only a small number of cities currently support the infrastructure to collect and dispose of compostable bags properly.

As citizens of a vibrant coastal community, we pride ourselves on our beaches, as well as the healthy lagoons that border our community. Our natural environment resources are an economic benefit to our community and we endeavor to invest wisely in caring for them – and, have very dedicated volunteers who come out on a regular basis to help remove litter and marine debris, including plastic bags, bottle caps, balloons, and other plastic items. These marine debris items pose a threat to marine life, and can be an economic blight to our beach related economy.

San Francisco, Malibu, Fairfax, and Palo Alto have banned plastic bags and at least 20 more cities in California are considering this approach. Rather than taking a piecemeal city-by-city approach, AB 1998 will create one uniform policy for addressing all types of single-use bags to encourage consumers to use reusable bags, the most sustainable alternative. This is a matter of statewide importance and we strongly support the effort being put forth through AB1998 to ban plastic carryout bags and no longer allow free paper carryout bags.

California has a critical role to play in becoming a true leader in eliminating plastic bag waste and preventing the proliferation of plastic pollution in our communities. The passage of AB 1998 will be a major step in breaking our addiction to single-use bags and will protect our coasts and beaches from unsightly and costly pollution caused by single-use plastic bags.

Sincerely,



cc: Surfrider Foundation San Diego Chapter

Take Action to Eliminate Single-Use Plastic Bags

Recently we told you about AB 1998, legislation in Sacramento that would ban single-use shopping bags. Sufrider Foundation Global HQ has put out this Action Alert. Please take a moment and register your support for this important legislation.

YOUR URGENT ACTION NEEDED to Help Reduce Single-Use Bags

We need your help. There is an important piece of legislation working its way through Sacramento that would ban single-use bags at stores of a certain size ("Mom and Pops" would not be affected). Here's what the legislation will do and why it's needed, on a fact sheet that you can read or download. Single-use plastics choke out creeks, streams, rivers and kill aquatic and marine life. This type of legislation has been proposed before but has died in committee because the plastics industry and their lobbyists have long held sway over Sacramento. It's time to change that and here are some easy steps you can take with the simplest ways first! Please take a moment and help.

Sign on to one or all of these action alerts from our friends

Environment California

Heal the Bay

Californians Against Waste

Contact the Bill Sponsor and/or your legislators expressing your support (you can use our suggested language below and click, copy and paste)

Assemblymember Julia Brownley (click on Contact Us)

Look up your legislators and E-mail or call them

Dear ________,

I am writing to you, as a member/supporter of Surfrider Foundation San Diego Chapter ("Surfrider") to urge passage of The Single-Use Bag Reduction Act (AB 1998). For the last several years, Surfrider has been engaged in a highly-active campaign entitled “Rise Above Plastics,” (RAP) with the mission to reduce the impacts of plastic in the marine environment by raising awareness of the dangers of plastic pollution and by advocating for a reduction of single-use plastics and the increase of recycling of all plastics.

AB 1998, as amended, would ban plastic single-use carryout bags and regulate paper carryout bags at supermarkets, retail pharmacies, and convenience stores throughout the state. Already, San Francisco, Malibu, Fairfax, and Palo Alto have banned plastic bags and at least 20 more cities in California are considering this approach. Rather than taking a piecemeal city-by-city approach, AB 1998 will create one uniform policy for addressing all types of single-use bags (including paper bags which contribute to deforestation ads waste intensive processes) to encourage consumers to use reusable bags, the most sustainable alternative. I am requesting that you individually support and send a letter of support to the bill’s sponsor, Assemblymember Julia Brownley.

As a governmental leader whose decisions directly affect the health of our ocean and waterways, you should be aware of the environmental AND economic impact of plastic bag pollution in inland, coastal communities and in our statewide oceans. Californians use an estimated 19 billion single-use plastic bags every year. The state spends $25 million annually to clean up and landfill these littered bags and this figure does not even include the over $300 million that local governments continually to spend to clean littered streets and waterways.

With a staggering less than 5% of single-use plastic bags are currently being recycled, most of these bags end up in our landfills or as litter, clog storm drain systems, and make their way to our waterways and ocean. An estimated 60–80% of all marine debris is plastic. Plastic lasts for hundreds of years and may never biodegrade in the ocean. As a result, it poses a persistent threat to wildlife, and is making it’s way up the food chain – to us. AB 1998 is a first step in addressing this problem.

The State of California has a critical role to play in becoming a leader in eliminating waste from single-use bags and preventing the proliferation of marine debris. The passage of AB 1998 is a first step in achieving these sound environmental policy goals and showing leadership in statewide environmental protection. I again strongly urge that you support this vital piece of legislation.

Sincerely,

Name

Full Address

Groundbreaking Legislation Passed in California State Assembly

The California State Legislature today passed legislation aimed at greatly reducing the use of single-use plastic bags. The bill would require a 25 cent fee on single-use plastic and paper bags at large grocery stores and pharmacies statewide, if a 70% reduction in bag usage is not achieved by the end of 2010. Similar fees in other countries have had extreme success, reducing bag use by upwards of 90%. Paper bags have been included in the fee provisions of the bill, further encouraging the use of reusable bags by shoppers. Surfrider Foundation supports the strengthening of the bill to include biodegradable bags in the bill as these bags do not decompose in the ocean and present the same hazards as other bags to marine life. The groundbreaking legislation, which can set a national precedent, now moves onto the California State Senate. Check these pages for further updates on the bill which is entitled AB 2058, Recycling: plastic carryout bags, paper carryout bags.