Reporting from Sacramento — California lawmakers passed wide-ranging public compensation reforms inspired by the Bell municipal salary scandal in the waning hours of the 2010 legislative session, but a closely watched, first-in-the-nation ban on hermes replica was defeated Tuesday night. That measure, AB 1998, passed the Assembly in June and had the support of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, but faced a withering and well-financed advertising and lobbying campaign from the plastic bag manufacturing industry. The governor, who must sign each of the reforms to make them law, has not taken public positions on most of the Bell-related measures. He has until Sept. 30 to make his decisions. But Schwarzenegger had joined other Hollywood luminaries, including actresses Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Rosario Dawson, in support of the proposed ban on plastic shopping bags. Supporters claimed that the bags, which are used for a few minutes of shopping but remain in the eco-system for centuries, are one of the biggest contributors to beach and ocean pollution. In many European supermarkets, the answer to "Paper or plastic?" is simply "No." Single-use bags are banned; shoppers bring reusable totes or, if they forget, wheel their purchases out to the car and load them in the trunk.

California, in contrast, keeps stalling over proposals to eliminate single-use, plastic carry-out bags, even if a convenient replica hermes would cost about a nickel. A bill to accomplish this much has been approved by the Assembly but needs to pass the state Senate by the end of Tuesday to make it to the desk of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has indicated his readiness to sign it. As the Sacramento Bee reported last week, the American Chemistry Council and its affiliates, which represent petroleum and plastic bag companies, have recently showered key state politicians with campaign donations. In addition, the council has launched an advertising campaign criticizing the bill as frivolous. It's a strawman argument. Even in troubled economic times, Californians don't have to give up on cleaning up the environment. A reusable bag that carries a lot more groceries can be purchased for a dollar and lasts longer than a year. A paper bag — made up of at least 40% recycled material and also easily reused several times — would cost a few cents. What few customers realize is that they're already paying for the plastic bags; the cost is built into the price of groceries. If that cost weren't hidden, more consumers would have switched to reusables by now. The bill doesn't target all plastic bags, such as the ones shoppers use to hold their fruits and vegetables — or the ones that wrap home-delivered newspapers. Environmental experts say the main culprit polluting our parks, beaches and oceans are the single-use plastic bags with handles — the ones that hold just a few grocery items.

Flimsy as the replica hermes bags are, California generates 120,000 tons a year of this plastic, carry-out trash, less than 5% of which is recycled. Compare that with the plastic water bottles that have gained a reputation for their wastefulness. Californians use about 80,000 tons of them a year, of which 75% are recycled. In other words, the environmental benefit in a $1 reusable tote is potentially much greater than that of a designer aluminum water bottle. These are the messages the state Senate should keep in mind as it considers AB 1998. The bill offers an inexpensive, convenient and effective way to prevent litter and ocean pollution and protect marine mammals that are known to ingest the plastic bags. That's a great bargain even in a bad economy. When San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban plastic bags at big grocery and drug stores, it ignited a fierce debate over just what local governments can do to keep the ubiquitous "urban tumbleweed" out of tree limbs and landfills. Now officials here in the City That Knows How want to expand that prohibition — which prompted inquiries from like-minded governments in 40 states and 33 countries when it passed three years ago — by outlawing non-recyclable plastic bags at all retailers of all sizes.

Under the proposed ordinance, introduced Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting, you could still pack your organic arugula or bulk raw almonds in hermes bags . And dry cleaners could still swath clean garments in clingy, see-through film to protect them from the elements. Beyond that, though, forget about it. And get ready to pony up a nickel a bag for paper sacks, too, if the measure passes. Although a statewide ban on plastic bags at big drug and grocery stores — and a similar charge for paper — is working its way through the Legislature, officials here are moving forward anyway because they don't believe the California measure goes far enough. The state law, which passed in the Assembly and is now in the Senate Appropriations Committee, would keep local governments from weighing in with their own plastic bag measures through so-called preemption language. The state law "will co-opt the ability of local governments wanting to strengthen these laws later on," said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi as he introduced the ordinance. "This is why we are trying to lead by enacting municipally and why other cities are also moving in a similar direction as well." The strengthened San Francisco ordinance would go into effect March 1. So far, merchant reaction has been muted. The San Francisco Chamber of Commerce declined to comment, because its members have yet to see the ordinance. Stephen H. Adams, president of the Merchants of Upper Market and Castro, said most of his organization's members have already switched to paper bags. Most agree that holistic approaches including recycling, coupled with tough litter abatement laws gjtxvhjg56, well-run municipal waste management systems and behavioral changes can help keep plastic bags (and other materials) out of our waste systems, off our beaches and out of our oceans.

Even though paper is costlier than plastic, Brownies Hardware switched shortly after the original San Francisco ordinance passed in 2007. "It's the right thing to do," said Stephen Cornell, owner of the 105-year-old store in the Nob Hill neighborhood. "I wasn't the only one. You can go to about five or six hardware stores in San Francisco that I know of that did the same thing." But louis vuitton replica makers are up in arms. Shari Jackson is director of Progressive Bag Affiliates, a division of the American Chemistry Council. Her organization decries San Francisco's move as "just not a good policy approach." Banning plastic bags "leads consumers to switch to paper bags, and they have a heavier environmental impact," Jackson said. "They take 70% more energy to manufacture. They produce 50% more greenhouse gas emissions." Members of this coalition have real reasons for wanting this legislation stopped, and it has to do with the fear of job losses, the fear of rising business costs, the fear of inflated grocery bills and the fear of California's expanding deficit. Instead of passing AB 1998, we should be working together to find litter and recycling solutions that don't cost consumers more money and don't put people out of work. If the ordinance passes, San Francisco would be the first city in California to have such a tough law on the books, and the second area in the country, according to Jackson. In June, the North Carolina legislature banned one-use plastic bags at all retailers in three counties of the environmentally sensitive Outer Banks region. The law, which takes effect Oct. 1, expands on an earlier ban on the use of plastic bags at large stores. http://www.tripcafe.pl/hermes74 http://www.wedspace.com/blogs/posts/hermes74

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