“Paper or plastic?”
Heard that in a while when shopping at the grocery store? In Kansas, a battle might be brewing in the legislature over a bill that would stop cities and towns from banning those plastic bags.
A bill in the legislature is promoted by the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. It would forbid municipal bans on not just plastic shopping bags that you carry by the armloads from your local WalMart store, but plastic straws as well.
“We have seen a growing trend across the country by local governments to ban plastic products because of their perceived damage to the economy, but we don’t have to look any further than our own state, as Lawrence became the first city to ban plastic bags effective March 1,” said Eric Stafford who represented the Chamber at the Capitol, reported the Kansas Reflector.
However, the bill has its detractors, including some attorneys who believe it would be in violation of the Kansas constitution which was amended in 1961 to give “home rule” power to cities and counties.
Said one attorney, ““No purported rationale for this bill even comes close to justifying the denial of the constitutional rights of local governments to exercise their broad home rule authority.”
Click here for Kansas Reflector