Massachusetts could ban plastic shopping bags by 2021 under a new proposal Senate President Karen Spilka plans to bring to a vote Wednesday in the Senate.
The upper chamber's Ways and Means Committee will release a bill Monday morning that would ban single-use plastic shopping bags at store checkouts statewide and would preempt any plastic bag regulations already in place at the municipal level, such as Boston's local ordinance.
Under Spilka's plan, recyclable paper bags would cost ten cents a piece to consumers, with a nickel going to cities and towns to promote recycling and a nickel staying with the retailer to cover the cost of the bag.
Spilka says a statewide ban will be easier on retailers than different rules in different municipalities.
"Over 100 cities and towns have already taken some action to ban the use of plastic bags, Spilka told WGBH News. "This is one step moving forward. But it's something that we should definitely, definitely do as a state."
Small retailers would be exempted from the fee on paper bags until 2022.
The Senate plans to pass the bill Wednesday, their last formal session until January. The bill would then move to the House when formal legislative business resumes in 2020, where's there's little indication that Speaker Robert DeLeo has much interest in banning plastic bags.
Spilka agrees with environmentalists that the ubiquitous thin plastic bags pollute waterways and harm animals. She says she saw marine life choking on plastic pollution while on a family trip to Alaska and Canada.
"It just really made me realize that we as a state need to do something because there are alternatives that are readily available and we need to reduce our use of plastic," Spilka said.
Bill sponsor Sen. Jaime Eldridge says the ten cent fee for paper bags, split between the retailer and municipality, is key to altering consumer behavior.
"There really was a sense from talking to environmental advocates that to really change consumer behavior, that ten cents would have a bit more of an effect on people," Eldridge said.
"Why not apply a fee that, you know, would have a little bit more of an impact on consumers to change their behavior?" eldridge told WGBH News.
Retailers have been active in crafting a compromise with environmental leaders to reach a statewide ban, though Retailers Association of Massachusetts president Jon Hurst isn't ready to endorse the Senate's plan until the final legislation is released. Hurst wrote in a statement that his group would only support a ban bill if smaller retailers would not have to charge for paper bag.
"Small, non-food retailers seeking to attract and retain consumers through excellent service, yet increasingly facing competition from out of state internet companies, will be protected and not be put at a disadvantage by being forced to charge their customers a government mandated fee on paper bags," hurst wrote about his group's stipulation for siging on to a ban.
The paper industry opposes steep fees for bags. The American Forest and Paper Association says fees for paper are regressive and harm poorer consumers. The group argues that paper, which is more widely recyclable than plastic bags, should be freely available.
The Senate's bag ban comes as the House and Senate are weighing a ban on all flavored tobacco, including menthol cigarettes.
