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Senate circled bag-fee bill after sponsor reduces fee and addresses fiscal access
Summary
Second Substitute Senate Bill 196 to create a retail bag fee and direct proceeds to mitigation and education was circled pending an amendment; sponsor reduced the per-bag fee (4¢ to 2¢ in discussion), said language was added so DEQ and the Tax Commission could access proceeds, and the fiscal note was expected to be net-zero.
Senators circled Second Substitute Senate Bill 196, a bag impact reduction measure that would impose a small fee on single-use retail bags and direct funds to education, clean-up and mitigation efforts.
Sponsor Senator Imamoto described the bill's environmental rationale—plastic bags' impact on recycling and waterways—and said the fee and exemptions were the result of industry and local-government negotiation. The bill originally referenced a 10¢ per single-use bag fee in the sponsor's presentation, but during floor questioning the sponsor confirmed the fee had been changed down to 2¢ as part of a substitute. The sponsor said changes to bill language were included so the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) and the Tax Commission would be able to access and administer funds and to make sure administrative costs could be covered.
Senators asked about the fiscal note and administrative costs; the sponsor said the revised drafting should yield a zero-net fiscal impact because the administrative costs would be refunded from the collected proceeds once the program started. The sponsor indicated there was one additional amendment outstanding and moved to circle the bill pending that language; the motion to circle carried on the floor.
The bill was not advanced to third reading in this session's recorded floor segments; it was held pending the substitute language and fiscal note confirmation.
