Plastic Bag Fee Bill AB 2058: YOU Can Help!

California Assemblyman Lloyd Levine’s Assembly Bill AB 2058 — a bill that, if passed, would demand a 25-cent environment-supporting tariff for each and every disposable plastic bag handed out at grocery stores — has been kicking around for months now, but unfortunately it seems to have stalled somewhere along the committee decision line. Corporations and organizations like the American Chemistry Council are lobbying like mad to send the bill back to the drawing board and beyond, and it’s working. So, what can you do to help? According to our friends-in-ecology over at Heal the Bay, you can do plenty.

Call the three legislators who can move this bill forward letting them know that all Californians want to protect their community from plastic bag pollution. Also, send a letter to your Senator urging them to support AB 2058 when it comes up for a vote!

Can calling legislators really make a difference? Absolutely. The more pressure is put upon them to do the right thing and represent their constituents, the more likely they are to actually follow through. For your added benefit, Heal the Bay even has a handy guide on how to place the most effective persuasive phone call possible:

1) Call one of the Legislative leaders above.

2) Speak loudly and clearly.

3) Say you would like to speak to a staff person about Assembly Bill 2058.

4) State the following points. It should take no longer than 20 seconds.

Hello, my name is _______ and I’m calling upon the leadership of [Senator/Assembly Member] to get AB 2058 out of committee and moving forward to a full vote.
AB 2058 will keep my taxpayer dollars away from being spent on land filling and cleaning up plastic bag blight in my community.
AB 2058 will actually help me save money on my grocery bill because I will bring a reusable bag to the market and not have to pay the hidden cost of single-use bags that is currently embedded in the price of goods.
I urge you to keep this bill moving forward and pass AB 2058 this year.
5) You may be asked you to provide your name, address, and zip code. If you aren’t comfortable with providing your address, you can just leave your name and zip code.

6) Repeat steps 1-5 with the other legislative leaders!

How can you not call, or at the very least send a letter? It’s our state, and it’s our environment — and now, it’s up to us.

Photo via Heal the Bay via Flickr!

Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 10:20 am and is filed under It's Funky, The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.