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Legislative Updates

Local Ordinances 

Following are laws that have been adopted by California jurisdictions: (Sort by Date of Adoption)

JurisdictionDate of Adoption
Alameda County 01/25/2012
Belmont 01/08/2013
Calabasas 02/09/2011
Capitola [PDF, 298KB]01/10/2013
Carpinteria [PDF, 375KB]03/12/2012
Culver City [PDF, 697KB]05/28/2013
Cupertino01/15/2013
Dana Point [PDF, 55KB]03/06/2012
East Palo Alto04/02/2013
Fairfax 11/04/2008
Fort Bragg [PDF, 22KB]05/14/2012
Glendale01/22/2013
Half Moon Bay02/20/2013
Huntington Beach 04/01/2013
Laguna Beach 02/28/2012
Long Beach [PDF, 484KB]05/24/2011
Los Altos03/12/2013
County of LA [PDF, 366KB]11/16/2010
Manhattan Beach 07/14/2008
County of Marin [PDF, 564KB]01/25/2011
County of Mendocino 06/12/2012
Menlo Park 01/22/2013
Millbrae 02/14/2012
City of Monterey 12/06/2011
Mountain View 12/11/2012
Ojai 04/10/2012
Pacifica 12/10/2012
Pasadena 11/07/2011
Palo Alto 03/30/2009
Portola Valley 01/23/2013
Redwood City 03/25/2013
San Carlos 02/26/2013
San Francisco 04/20/2007
San Jose 01/11/2011
San Luis Obispo 01/11/2012
City of San Mateo05/06/2013
County of San Mateo11/06/2012
County of Santa Clara05/10/2011
City of Santa Cruz [PDF, 89KB]07/10/2012
County of Santa Cruz [PDF, 2.34MB]09/13/2011
Santa Monica 02/08/2011
Solana Beach [PDF, 2.26MB]05/09/2012
Sunnyvale 12/13/2011
Ukiah [PDF, 351KB]05/02/2012
Watsonville 05/08/2012
West Hollywood 08/20/2012




State of California 

To view past legislative bills, click here.

  • AB 158 (Levine – 2013) — As of January 1, 2015, this bill would prohibit stores of a specific size or sales volume from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer and require these stores to meet other specified requirements regarding providing recycled paper bags, compostable bags, or reusable bags to customers. As of July 1, 2016, this bill would impose these prohibitions and requirements on other retail stores. The bill would also require a reusable grocery bag producer providing their bags to a store in the state to meet certain requirements, and would allow a local jurisdiction or the state to impose civil penalties for a violation of the bill's requirements. The Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery may inspect and audit a reusable grocery bag producer and may test any reusable grocery bag manufactured by a reusable grocery bag producer, with all associated costs paid for by the reusable grocery bag producer.

    Status: Assembly Committee on Appropriations


  • SB 405 (Padilla – 2013) — As of January 1, 2015, this bill would prohibit stores of a specific size or sales volume from providing a single-use carryout bag to a customer and require these stores to meet other specified requirements regarding providing recycled paper bags, compostable bags, or reusable bags to customers. As of July 1, 2016, this bill would impose these prohibitions and requirements on other retail stores. This bill would require a reusable grocery bag provided by a store in the state to meet certain requirements, and would allow a local jurisdiction or the state to impose civil penalties for a violation of the bill's requirements. A violation of the reusable grocery bag requirements would be subject to an administrative civil penalty imposed upon grocery bag producers and assessed by the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery. This bill would allow a local public agency that has adopted an ordinance, resolution, regulation, or rule relating to carryout bags prior to September 1, 2013 to continue enforcement and implementation, but would require amendments other than to the amount a store shall charge with regard to a recycled paper bag be subject to state preemption.

    Status: Senate Inactive File


  • SB 529 (Leno – 2013) — This bill would enact the Plastic and Marine Pollution Reduction, Recycling, and Composting Act. On and after July 1, 2014, this bill would prohibit a fast food facility, as defined, from distributing disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless the disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag meets the criteria for either compostable packaging or recyclable packaging. On and after July 1, 2016, this bill would also prohibit distributing disposable food service packaging or a single-use carryout bag to a consumer, unless the facility demonstrates that the disposable food service packaging or single-use carryout bag is recovered for composting or recycling at a rate of at least 25 percent, on and after July 1, 2018, at a rate of at least 50 percent, and on and after July 1, 2020, at a rate of least 75 percent. This bill would provide for the imposition of a civil penalty upon a person in violation of the act. All penalties would be deposited into the Marine Pollution Reduction Account, which the Department of Resources Recycling and Recovery would use to provide public education and assist local governmental agencies in efforts to reduce plastic waste and marine pollution, and to implement the act.

    Status: Senate Appropriations Committee


  • SB 700 (Wolk – 2013) — This bill would require retail establishments that sell food or alcohol for consumption on or off premises to collect a charge of $0.05 for each single-use carryout bag provided to customers. Establishments would be able to retain $0.005 of that charge and would be able to collect an additional $0.005 if they credit customers $0.05 for each carryout bag provided by the consumer for packaging his or her purchases, and meet other requirements. This bill would allow the governing body of a city or county to adopt an ordinance that provides that the charge does not apply in that city or county. The collected charges are to be deposited in the Local Environmental Enhancement Fund for expenditure by the Natural Resources Agency to be used for implementation of the bill and to issue grants to a city or county for local parks and for local programs aimed at reducing and cleaning up litter. This bill would not preempt or prohibit local ordinances governing single-use carryout bags.

    Status: Senate Appropriations Committee


  • AB 1337 (Allen – 2013) — This bill would prohibit a city, county, or other public agency from adopting, implementing, or enforcing an ordinance, resolution, regulation, or rule that prohibits a retail establishment from offering to its customers, or otherwise prohibits a person from using, a single-use plastic carryout bag for purposes of containing specified products. The bill would also prohibit a city, county, or other public agency that otherwise prohibits the distribution of single-use plastic carryout bags by retail establishments from adopting, implementing, or enforcing an ordinance, resolution, regulation, or rule that imposes a fee, tax, or other charge upon a retail establishment that provides a single-use carryout bag that is not made of plastic to its customers or that requires the retail establishment to collect a fee, tax, or other charge from a customer for providing that type of single-use carryout bag. The bill would declare the matters regulated by the bill are of statewide interest and concern.

    Status: Assembly Committee on Natural Resources


  • SB 1219 (Wolk – 2012) — Extends at-store recycling program of plastic carryout bags until
    January 1, 2020, and repeals the provisions preempting local regulatory action.

    Status: Chaptered 09-19-12


  • AB 2449 (Levine – 2006) — Mandates at-store recycling of plastic carryout bags by all large supermarkets and retail businesses beginning July 1, 2007.

    Status: Chaptered 09-30-06




Other Municipalities 

  • HR 1686 (Moran – 2013) — This bill would impose a retail tax on disposable carryout bags. The amount of tax would be $0.05 per disposable carryout bag.

    Status: Referred to Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation.


Following are laws that have been adopted by other jurisdictions: (Sort by Date of Adoption)

JurisdictionDate of Adoption
Aspen/Carbondale, CO [PDF, 151KB]10/11/2011
Austin, TX [PDF, 151KB]03/01/2012
Bainbridge Island, WA [PDF, 217KB]04/11/2012
Barrington, RI [PDF, 287KB]10/01/2012
Bellingham, WA 08/01/2011
Bethel, AK [PDF, 154KB]07/14/2009
Boulder, CO 11/15/2012
Brownsville, TX [PDF, 328KB]09/23/2010
Chestertown, MD [PDF 24KB]04/04/2011
Corvallis, OR 07/02/2012
District of Columbia 09/23/2009
Edmonds, WA 07/28/2009
Eugene, OR 10/29/2012
County of Hawaii01/03/2012
Homer, AK08/27/2012
Honolulu, HI [PDF, 503KB]05/10/2012
Issaquah, WA 06/04/2012
Kauai County, HI 10/07/2009
Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, Canada 03/22/2007
Manchester, MA 04/02/2013
Marshall County, IA 09/16/2008
Maui County, HI 08/25/2008
Montgomery County, MD 05/03/2011
Mukilteo, WA 12/12/2011
Outer Banks, NC [PDF, 24KB]06/23/2009
Portland, OR 07/21/2011
Port Townsend, WA 07/02/2012
Rye, NY [PDF 12KB]12/08/2011
Snow Lake, Manitoba, Canada [PDF, 38KB]07/07/2009
Seattle, WA 12/19/2011
Shoreline, WA 04/29/2013
South Australia, Australia 11/20/2008
Telluride, CO 10/05/2010
Thompson, Manitoba, Canada [PDF, 88KB]09/27/2010
Town of Brookline, MA11/14/2012
Village of Larchmont, NY [PDF, 18KB] 03/19/2013
Village of Mamaroneck, NY [PDF, 76KB] 07/16/2012
Westport, CT 09/02/2008


Plastic Bag Ban Map 

Factory Direct Promos has created an interactive map showing places around the world with a plastic bag ban or fee.

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