Industry group gathers enough signatures to put issue before voters

An industry-led coalition has gathered enough signatures to challenge the nation's first statewide ban by putting it before voters.

The American Progressive Bag Alliance announced Wednesday it had gathered more than 800,000 signatures to put a repeal of the ban on the November 2016 California ballot. The group needed at least 555,236 valid signatures to qualify.

SPI-The Society of the Plastics Industry founded the alliance in 2005 to challenge attempts to tax and ban plastic bans in communities across the nation.

California became the first state in the nation last year to enact a statewide plastic bag ban. The California Secretary of State's Office said the law would be suspended pending the outcome of the ballot measure.

"(The ban) was never a bill about the environment. It was a backroom deal between the California Grocers Association and their union friends to scam consumers out of billions of dollars in bag fees—all under the guise of environmentalism," said Lee Califf, executive director of the alliance. http://prn.to/1BZjg5U

The group accuses California grocers of supporting the ban because it also included a measure allowing them to collect fees for paper bags. However, environmentalists also support the ban, saying plastic bags kill wildlife and are a major litter problem.

"Virtually all of the plastic bags sold in California are produced by just three out-of-state corporations," said Mark Murray of Californians vs. Big Plastic, a coalition of environmentalists, business groups and elected officials who support the ban. "And these corporations and their chemical suppliers have made it clear that they will do and say anything, and pay any price to continue to sell plastic bags in California."http://bit.ly/1ETsxdk