The majority of likely California voters are in favor of using plastic bag fees for environmental programs, according to a poll sponsored by bag makers.
Of those polled, 57% support the Environmental Fee Protection Act, which will be listed as Proposition 65 in California in November, according to the Probolsky Research poll conducted for the American Progressive Bag Alliance.
Only 35% were opposed to the proposal, which would require stores to deposit bag sale proceeds into a special fund administered by the state's Wildlife Conservation Board, rather than letting grocers have it — should the bag ban, which is also on the ballot as Proposition 67, become law.
“These poll results show exactly what we've known all along — regardless of how California voters feel about bag bans, they want any mandated bag fees to go to a public purpose,” said Lee Califf, APBA executive director. “Come November, if the statewide bag ban is not repealed through Proposition 67, voters can redirect the millions of dollars collected from bag fees to legitimate environmental purposes with a ‘yes' vote on Prop 65.”
Golden State voters will have two bag-related proposals in the fall: one to one to accept or reject the plastic bag tax, which passed the legislature as SB 270, and a second to redirect the money from any bag tax to environmental measures rather than to the grocers and unions who negotiated SB 270 with state politicians.
Probolsky Research conducted 1,020 phone interviews with likely California voters between 5 and 8 August, according to APBA.