CO Senate considering bill to charge $.25 for using plastic bags

[Ronin13]

So our benevolent "leaders" at the capitol are pushing to ask us to pay a little more to use those awful plastic bags! Although they had Senate President Kevin Grantham on KHOW this morning say that it wouldn't make it through the (R) controlled senate. So maybe, maybe not?
Colorado Politics reports on the proposal- which thankfully would go to the voters (because it's a tax, not a "fee"), which might not give me much hope, considering most CO voters these days seem like they are "environmentally friendly."

A 25-cent Colorado plastic bag tax proposed by Rep. Paul Rosenthal and Sen. Lois Court

The bill, if passed, would refer a measure onto the ballot to ask Colorado voters to approve a tax on plastic bags from the supermarket. The tax would be a quarter, the same amount whether the customer at the checkout counter uses one bag or several. The proceeds would go to grants and loans to local governments and building contractors to build or retain affordable housing in Colorado.
The text of House Bill 1054 can be read by clicking here.
Compared to runaway housing prices, the bag tax comparably is a small price to pay, The tax, they project, could raise $50 million a year.
“No matter where I go or who I talk to, the sky-high cost of housing is the number one concern that I hear,” Rosenthal said in a statement.
Court said, “Even with the construction of a large number of new condos, the leases are expensive and not bringing down the cost of housing in the city,” she said. “We see many areas of the state dealing with this issue—it’s not just the Denver metro area.”
As a bonus, the tax would encourage the use of reusable or paper bags and raise awareness of plastic bag waste in Colorado.
“Plastic bags pollute and litter our environment, plus they’re an eyesore and they don’t biodegrade,” Rosenthal said. “We have to be far more aggressive when it comes to curbing our daily waste, which only adds to the mountainous heaps of garbage that currently litter our state.”
Several Colorado cities already tax plastic bags, “proof that the system works in the state,” according to Rosenthal.
Boulder passed a 10-cent fee on all disposable paper and plastic bags and reduced in 2013, and the next year bag use dropped 69 percent in the city, the Boulder Daily Camera reported.
The bill carves out exemptions for restaurants and those eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

LINK

MODS: If this belongs in the legislation and politics section I apologize- I figured it was appropriate in GD due to not being firearm related.

[thedave1164]

ha, I already request paper bags

wanna sh1+h0le state? cuz that is how you get one along with the other crapiefornia ideas they push

[Gman]

I guess it's a slow legislative session if this is what they're focusing their attention to.

[Zundfolge]

They want us to use cloth bags because cloth bags are disease ridden and the more of us that get sick, the mores of us will demand single payer health care so they can control our precious bodily fluids.

(I'm only half joking)

[crays]

I'm going to buy my plastic bags by the case, and sell them outside stores for 10 cents each.

Sent from somewhere

[CS1983]

But if people stop using plastic bags, they will recycle less and then we will get pegged for not recycling. The only way to save the environment by the arch sacrament of recycling is to use more bags. Why does the Demoncratic party hate the environment!?

[StagLefty]

According to a guest politician on KHOW this morning it doesn't stand a chance of passing.

[Zundfolge]

But if people stop using plastic bags, they will recycle less and then we will get pegged for not recycling. The only way to save the environment by the arch sacrament of recycling is to use more bags. Why does the Demoncratic party hate the environment!?

Also if you use cloth bags, you'll have to wash them regularly, thus using more water in a very dry state. Its idiotic.

I'm going to buy my plastic bags by the case, and sell them outside stores for 10 cents each.

I think the proposed tax is .25 on your whole tab if you want bags, not .25 each bag.

[Irving]

The arguments against this are just as stupid as this tax in the first place.

Sin taxes are immoral, what else needs to be said?

[crays]

SNIP...
The proceeds would go to grants and loans to local governments and building contractors to build or retain affordable housing in Colorado.

SNIP...

The bill carves out exemptions for restaurants and those eligible for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

So, if you're on food stamps, you're exempt... Seems like I see an inordinate amount of stray plastic bags and other ground litter in areas prone to a high percentage of "benefit recipients". Seems to me, they're giving those least likely to recycle in the first place, and most likely to benefit from the funding, a free pass in this Common Sense legislation.

Why am I not surprised?