| TO: | Honorable Troy Fraser, Chair, Senate Committee on Natural Resources |
| FROM: | John S O'Brien, Director, Legislative Budget Board |
| IN RE: | SB908 by Fraser (Relating to requirements for businesses that offer plastic checkout bags to customers.), As Introduced |
The bill would require certain businesses that offer plastic checkout bags to establish a recycling program for those bags. Affected businesses would include stores that: are full-line, self-service retail; have annual sales of $5 million or more; sell a line of dry grocery, canned goods, and some perishable food items; and have over 20,000 square feet of retail space. Such businesses would be required to train employees on efficient bagging techniques and other procedures intended to reduce the use of plastic bags. The bill would not apply to businesses that employ fewer than 51 employees per location. Businesses would also be exempt from the bill’s provisions if there were no available public recycling program and no private recycling services available at a reasonable cost locally. The bill would preempt cities from adopting ordinances that conflict with the bill. The bill's passage is not expected to result in any significant additional workload for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
| Source Agencies: | 582 Commission on Environmental Quality
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| LBB Staff: | JOB, SZ, TL
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