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General Assembly Raised Bill No. 1003
January Session, 2019
LCO No. 5319
Referred to Committee on ENVIRONMENT
Introduced by:
(ENV)
AN ACT CONCERNING THE U SE OF SINGLE-USE PLASTIC AND
PAPER BAGS.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General
Assembly convened:
Section 1. (NEW) (Effective from passage) (a) For the purposes of this 1
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
contain a purchased item or to protect a purchased item from 9
damaging or contaminating other purchased items when placed in a 10
reusable carryout bag or a single-use carryout bag made of paper, in 11
accordance with the provisions of this section, or a bag brought by a 12
customer at a store for the customer's own use, (C) a bag provided to 13
contain an unwrapped food item, or (D) a nonhandled bag that is 14
designed to be placed over: (i) Articles of clothing on a hanger, or (ii) a 15
newspaper. 16 Raised Bill No. 1003
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(2) "Store" means a retail establishment that meets any of the 17
following requirements: (A) Is a full-line, self-service retail store with 18
gross annual sales of two million dollars or more and that sells a line of 19
dry groceries, canned goods or nonfood items and some perishable 20
items, (B) contains not less than ten thousand square feet of retail space 21
that generates sales or use tax in accordance with title 12 of the general 22
statutes, (C) is a convenience food store, foodmart or other entity that 23
is engaged in the retail sale of a limited line of goods, generally 24
including milk, bread, soda and snack foods, or (D) is a convenience 25
food store, foodmart or other entity that is engaged in the retail sale of 26
goods intended to be consumed off the premises. 27
(3) "Reusable carryout bag" means a bag with handles that is 28
specifically designed and manufactured for multiple reuses and is 29
made of cloth, fiber, other machine washable fabric, or durable plastic 30
that is at least twelve mils thick. 31
(b) (1) On and after January 1, 2020, no store shall provide or sell to 32
any customer at the point of sale a single-use carryout bag that is made 33
of plastic. In the event that a store provides a customer with a single-34
use carryout bag made of paper after January 1, 2020, such bag shall be 35
one hundred per cent recyclable, contain a minimum of forty per cent 36
post-consumer recycled content and conspicuously display the 37
following phrase on such bag: "Please Reuse and Recycle This Bag". 38
(2) Any owner or operator of a store who violates the provisions of 39
this section shall be issued a warning for a first violation and shall be 40
fined two hundred fifty dollars for a second or any subsequent 41
violation, provided no such fine shall be assessed against any such 42
owner or operator more than once in a seven-day period. The 43
provisions of this section may be enforced by any municipality or 44
health district and any agent of the Departments of Consumer 45
Protection and Energy and Environmental Protection. One-half of any 46
fine imposed by a municipality or health district shall be retained by 47
the municipality where such violation occurred. 48 Raised Bill No. 1003
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(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a 49
municipality from enacting or enforcing an ordinance concerning 50
single-use carryout bags made of plastic, provided such ordinance is as 51
restrictive or more restrictive concerning the provision or selling of 52
such bags to customers by stores. 53
This act shall take effect as follows and shall amend the following
sections:
Section 1 from passage New section
ENV Joint Favorable