Bag ban threatened

California Secretary of State Alex Padilla announced on Tuesday (Feb. 24) that a referendum to place the state’s ban on single-use plastic bags on the November 2016 general election ballot was successful. The ban was signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown last fall but was not set to go into effect until July 1. It is now on hold until the 2016 election.

A group called the American Plastic Bag Alliance, made up of plastic bag manufacturers, qualified the ballot initiative by gathering 504,760 valid voter signatures, which equals the number of votes cast in the November 2010 gubernatorial election.

The effort may seem futile, however, as 130 California communities, including Chico, already have their own plastic-bag ordinances in place and the state ban would not take precedence over local laws.