Clean the Streams & Beautify the Bay Act of 2011

Maryland's General Assembly is now officially considering legislation to reduce the number of disposable shopping bags used in the state. Earlier this month Senator Jamie Raskin and Delegate Al Carr introduced the Clean the Streams and Beautify the Bay Act of 2011. You can read the bill online here: HB 1034 and SB 602.

The bill states that stores will charge five cents for each plastic and paper shopping bag distributed at the point of sale, with exceptions for restaurants and farm stands. Of the fee collected, the store will keep one cent (two cents if the store gives a credit for reusable bags) and the remaining three to four cents will go to the Comptroller, who will distribute funds for distribution of reusable bags and restoration activities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Those restoration activities will be administered through a grant program within the Chesapeake Bay Trust, a chartered

Hearings on these bills will be on March 8 (Senate) and March 11 (House of Delegates), in Annapolis. To tell your delegates, senator, and governor to support the Clean the Streams and Beautify the Bay Act of 2011, click here!