Plastic Bag Reduction Bill Veto Mesage

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September 19, 2008 The Honorable Pete Hoffmann, Chairperson,and Council Members Page 2 • Non-profit organizations: no opportunity for input—Bill 326 Draft 2 was passed without the public having a full understanding of what"businesses"would be affected by this measure. I watched a recording of the Council's discussion at its August 27 meeting where this bill passed second and final reading. It was made clear in the discussion that non-profit organizations such as churches, schools,community groups and sports teams will also be prohibited from using plastic bags at their fundraisers. It was also cleat that until the August 27 meeting, even some Council members were not aware of this impact on non-profit organizations. Not realizing that this bill would apply to them,non-profit groups did not provide comments and input before the bill's passage. On August 1, 2007, Mayor Kim wrote to the Council in another veto message: "It has always been the goal and policy of this administration to ensure that whenever any major policy changes are pursued, a forum of some sort is to be conducted to allow those who would be affected an opportunity to air their concerns. " Since non-profit organizations would be impacted by this bill, and it was not clear to all that they would be impacted,efforts should have been made to solicit input from these organizations before adoption. • Small business impacts—While supermarkets and larger retail chains are not happy about the impact this bill will have on costs to their customers, they have said they will accept it and live with it. It is our small businesses that will be most harmed by the higher cost of paper bags. Our small businesses already have a difficult time competing in the marketplace and cannot take advantage of the same economies of scale in purchasing as the larger stores. Small businesses that would be negatively impacted include vendors at farmers' markets, swap meets, and flea markets. It is noted that this bill would even make it illegal to place goods purchased at garage sales into reused plastic bags. These impacts are an unreasonable burden on small businesses. • Effective date—Bill 326 Draft 2 provides that the ban on plastic bags at point of sale becomes effective one year after the bill is approved, that is September 2009. This is not long enough for retailers, especially small businesses, and consumers to prepare to implement this ban. One local source of plastic and paper bags for about 650 small business customers provided an example of how this effective date can impact smaller companies. One customer recently placed an order for custom printed plastic bags. To obtain a reasonable unit cost, the customer ordered a quantity that will probably last at least a year and a half. The bags are still in transit, and if a ban takes effect in one year, this small business will be out money it can ill spare for bags it cannot