SACRAMENTO — A trade group has turned in enough signatures to put a referendum on California’s plastic bag ban on the November 2016 ballot, suspending implementation of the nation’s first statewide ban until voters can weigh in, state elections officials said Tuesday.
The plastic bag manufacturing trade group American Progressive Bag Alliance had 505,000 of the roughly 555,000 valid signatures needed to qualify the referendum after a random sample of the signatures, said Bill Mabie, chief deputy for Secretary of State Alex Padilla.
After one of the fiercest legislative battles of 2014, pitting bag makers against environmentalists, Governor Jerry Brown signed the bill last fall. It was scheduled to be phased in starting in July at large grocery stores and supermarkets as a way to cut down on litter and protect marine life.
But the trade group said the ban amounts to a cash giveaway to grocers that would lead to job losses. Supporters of the ban criticized manufacturers for spending millions on the campaign to continue selling single-use plastic bags.