Written by William Hekman
Governor Newsom signed into law a new bill that disallows restaurants from giving out single-use food accessories such as ketchup packets unless specifically asked by the customer. The reason for this bill is apparently that this will cut down on the use of plastics and the amount of plastic in our trash.
The bill, AB 1276, was introduced by Democrat Assemblywoman Wendy Carrillo of Los Angeles and will be enforceable starting June 2022. The bill also includes a requirement that third-party delivery platforms such as UberEats and DoorDash to tell whether single-packet items are available and only provide them once asked. Not only is this bill a really ridiculous thing to govern over, but restaurants can be fined if they violate this new law. The first two offences result in a notice, but all violations from the third onward will result in a fine of $25 per day not to exceed an annual total of $300.
The bill is being marketed by Carrillo as a way to clean up plastics in our trash saying it, “is an important step to significantly reduce plastic waste that pollutes our oceans, harms marine life, harms our environment, and hurts low income communities of color, while simultaneously providing financial savings to restaurants and local governments.” The California Coastal Commision has reported that cups, plates and straws are among the Top 10 items collected during beach cleanups.
It is certainly nice to see that Governor Newsom has his priorities straight. Clearly this issue was the one hurting the state the most, not the rising crime rate or gas prices. State Senate Minority Leader Scott Wilk said it best when he included the bill in his “Top 10 Bad Bills”. Wilk tweeted, “Why was making local gov’t the ‘ketchup packet police’ a priority?” Honestly Senator Wilk, we are thinking the same thing.
