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General Assembly Committee Bill No. 5019
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5081
Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT
Introduced by:
(ENV)
AN ACT ESTABLISHING A FIVE-CENT TAX ON SINGLE-USE
PLASTIC AND PAPER BA GS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective October 1, 2019) (a) For the purposes of 1
this section: 2
(1) "Single-use carryout bag" means a bag made of plastic, paper or 3
other material that is provided by a store to a customer at the point of 4
sale, customarily without a fee, and that is not one hundred per cent 5
recyclable. "Single-use carryout bag" does not include any of the 6
following: (A) A bag provided by a pharmacy to a customer 7
purchasing a prescription medication, (B) a nonhandled bag used to 8
protect a purchased item from damaging or contaminating other 9
purchased items when placed in a one hundred per cent recyclable 10
bag, a compostable bag, a recycled paper bag or a reusable bag, (C) a 11
bag provided to contain an unwrapped food item, or (D) a nonhandled 12
bag that is designed to be placed over: (i) Articles of clothing on a 13
hanger, or (ii) a newspaper. 14
(2) "Store" means a retail establishment that meets any of the 15
Committee Bill No. 5019
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following requirements: (A) Is a full-line, self-service retail store with 16
gross annual sales of two million dollars or more and that sells a line of 17
dry groceries, canned goods or nonfood items and some perishable 18
items, (B) contains not less than ten thousand square feet of retail space 19
that generates sales or use tax in accordance with title 12 of the general 20
statutes, (C) is a convenience food store, foodmart or other entity that 21
is engaged in the retail sale of a limited line of goods, generally 22
including milk, bread, soda and snack foods, or (D) is a convenience 23
food store, foodmart or other entity that is engaged in the retail sale of 24
goods intended to be consumed off the premises. 25
(b) (1) On and after October 1, 2019, no store shall provide or sell to 26
any customer at the point of sale a single-use carryout bag at a cost of 27
less than five cents. 28
(2) Any funds collected by a store pursuant to subdivision (1) of this 29
subsection shall be deposited with the Commissioner of Revenue 30
Services who shall provide for the deposit of such funds into the 31
account established pursuant to section 23-15h of the general statutes. 32
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 October 1, 2019 New section
Statement of Purpose:
To encourage consumer use of reusable bags.
[Proposed deletions are enclosed in brackets. Proposed additions are indicated by underline,
except that when the entire text of a bill or resolution or a section of a bill or resolution is new, it is
not underlined.]
Co-Sponsors: REP. CONLEY, 40th Dist.; REP. ROTELLA, 43rd Dist.
H.B. 5019