[PDM Info] A Statewide Bag Bill: 122 Steps Forward, 1 Big Step Back

Fri Jun 28 15:38:13 CDT 2019

Redraft is Bad for Business, Bad for Environment

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We who are members and supporters of the Mass Green Network have so much to be proud of – and now, so much to be angry about...
First, Let's Celebrate!
First, let us recognize our achievements.  We have passed laws to reduce plastic bags in over 120 cities and towns in Massachusetts.  (For the full list, click here! (http://www.massgreen.org/plastic-bag-legislation.html) ) When I first started work on plastic bags in the early months of 2015, there were only 7 laws in the state. Our strategy of cooperative local action has created a movement that continuously astonishes me. Every step of the way of the way, the members of the Mass Green Network have exceeded expectations. This spring our members won battles to reduce plastic waste in Acton, Amesbury, Becket, Billerica, Canton, Great Barrington, Halifax, Hingham, Hull, Lexington, Lynn, Manchester, Medfield, Norwell, Pittsfield, Plainville, Revere, Sharon, Springfield, Tewksbury, and Wrentham. And there are more in the works.  Well over 50% of the state’s population now lives in a town with a bag law. Congratulations all around – you’ve done incredible work!

Beach Sister Peer Leaders honored as heroes of Lynn, May 2019

The people of Massachusetts get it: they know it’s time to end bag waste. Our neighbors get it:  this spring – thanks to the tireless leadership of folks like Tim Maciel in Brattleboro and Melissa Gates in Rockland, both Vermont and Maine passed strong statewide bag laws, and Rhode Island is on the brink of doing the same.
Support the Mass Green Network with a Tax-Deductable Donation! (http://www.massgreen.org/donate.html)
Now, Let's Mourn.
Unfortunately, there’s one guy who still doesn’t get it: Rep. Smitty Pignatelli, House Chair of the Joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources, and Agriculture (ENRA).
ENRA was charged with considering the statewide bag bill, H.711/S.462 (https://malegislature.gov/Bills/191/HD134) , which would have been one of the strongest bag laws in the country.  Under Rep. Pignatelli’s leadership, ENRA gutted the bill.  If it passes, Pignatelli's redraft (which you can read here (http://nebula.wsimg.com/122717d09eabd69cf5390f7fe77e06c9?AccessKeyId=1C31A3B4B1A73412F089&disposition=0&alloworigin=1) ) will be one of the worst bag laws in the country.

The scandal is not only that Rep. Pignatelli does not recognize the importance of reducing waste. It is that he put the demands of corporate lobbyists ahead of the welfare of the people of Massachusetts.

He has also ignored the voices of Massachusetts business leaders. Since the fall, Scott Cassell of the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI) has been facilitating a highly productive conversation between environmental organizations and business leaders, including the Massachusetts Food Association (MFA) and the Retailer’s Association of Massachusetts (RAM). Together, we came up with some amendments to the bill to make it serve everyone’s interests.  Our compromise affirmed the key principles of the bill (elimination of all plastic bags, minimum fee for paper), and included measures to address the concerns of retailers, notably exemptions for low-volume vendors – mom and pop shops that were uncomfortable with charging fees. Our letter, signed by PSI, MFA, RAM, the Mass Green Network, the Sierra Club, the Surfrider Foundation, and MASSPIRG represented an extraordinary moment of cooperative leadership and common purpose across traditional lines of division. The original bill, as modified, would
have been a win-win for the economy and the environment.

But instead of listening to the people who protect the environment and the economy of Massachusetts, Rep. Pignatelli appears to have taken dictation from out-of-state corporate interests.  The bill reported out of his committee guts the fee for paper bags – a vital measure as important for grocery stores and large retailers as it is for the environment.  It also rolls back local measures, and prohibits cities and towns from doing anything about it by preempting all further action.  It is by any measure a terrible bill, bad for business, bad for the environment.

I hope some reporter investigates why Rep. Pignatelli put the needs of out-of-state corporations over those of the people of Massachusetts.
Support the Mass Green Network with a Tax-Deductable Donation! (http://www.massgreen.org/donate.html)
Next, Let's Organize!
So what can we do?  Here's three things:

1. Contact your representative. (To find contact information, click here (https://malegislature.gov/Search/FindMyLegislator) .) There may be an opportunity to revert to the original bill through amendments on the floor.  But above all else, Pignatelli's version of the bag bill must be defeated.

2. Spread the word, through letters to the editor and social media.  Let everyone know that the new bag bill sacrifices the welfare of Massachusetts business owners and residents for the benefit of out-of-state interests.

3. Keep working to pass laws at the local level.  If your town has already passed a bylaw, help out your friends in neighboring towns.  There are ample resources freely available (http://www.massgreen.org/reducing-plastic-bags.html) on our website, and the Mass Green email forum has 700 subscribers who are eager to help out. We're at 122 laws now.  Maybe if we pass another 100, legislators like Smitty Pignatelli will finally get it.

4. Give to the Mass Green Network.  We have a lot of work ahead of us to overcome the short-sightedness of our leaders, and we need your help now more than ever.
Support the Mass Green Network with a Tax-Deductable Donation! (http://www.massgreen.org/donate.html)
Thanks for all you do to foster just and sustainable communities.

Warmly,
Brad Verter
Founder, Mass Green Network

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