Back in 2010 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors passed an ill-advised ban on plastic grocery bags in incorporated parts of the the county. It was a bad idea for sure, but don’t take my word for it. County Supervisor Mike Antonovich penned a column for the FlashReport at the time, explaining why he voted against the ban.
As part of the county ordinance banning plastic bags all-together at grocery stores, the county also mandated that stores collect a fee from shoppers every time they sold them a paper bag. The goal from the big-government social engineers is straight forward — to restrict the liberty of Americans in Los Angeles County to use they bags that they prefer to use, and instead force them into using recyclable bags (which can be very gross).
A lawsuit was filed against Los Angeles County against the ordinance because of the de facto tax on paper bags. Californian’s recently passed Proposition 26 which requires that such a tax must be approved by a vote of the people. At the time the suit was filed, I talked to experts in these kinds of cases who told me that all of the action would likely be at the appellate level — typically a local judge (who, as an elected official, is subject to local pressures on high profile issues) will not want to rock the boat. This was borne out by a recent decision in the case where the local judge refused to overturn the ban (and thus setting a major precedent).
It was announced yesterday that the plaintiff’s in the case will, as expected, are appealing the local-court decision to the broader appellate court. No doubt the wheels of justice will spin far too slowly in terms of when this will be taken up. And it is a tragedy that in the meantime an illegal tax is being foisted upon so many people in Los Angeles County (and in other areas where such a “ban/tax” combo has been replicated).
That having been said, we are hopeful that ultimately the taxpayers will prevail, and that the entire Los Angeles County grocery bag ban and tax will be tossed out. And when it is, don’t expect the Board of Supervisors to place the ban and tax on the ballot for a county-wide vote. The not-so-secret reality is that while special interests may be able to manipulate certain politicians, there is no way that the public will vote to restrict their own freedom to bring home their groceries in whatever kind of bag they want.