On May 26 the Marin County Single Use Plastic Advisory Committee (SUPAC) finalized their recommendations on carryout bag and food packaging regulations. The purpose of this committee is to provide policy recommendations to six Marin County cities in order to create regional consistency. The SUPAC is made up of the cities of Mill Valley, Novato, San Anselmo, San Rafael, Sausalito, and Tiburon.

The committee started with the premise to ban plastic bags and polystyrene food packaging with the intent to add additional regulations on top of those mandates. Several Statewide and Bay Area based environmental groups brought options for regulation to the discussion. Their proposals would mandate food retailers use food packaging brought in by customers (e.g. Tupperware), mandating use of beverage containers brought in by customers, and fees on non-durable takeout food containers.

CGA led a coalition of business interests who vigorously opposed the proposals based on threats to food safety, operational challenges, and financial impact. In order to maintain food safety under these mandates grocery stores would be forced to make significant physical and operational changes, which would have cost several thousands of dollars annually to continue to provide food items prepared in-store. Ultimately representatives of the six cities rejected the proposals.

The SUPAC recommendation will include a single-use bag ordinance similar to the already passed Marin County ordinance consistent with CGA policy. It will also recommend a ban on the use of polystyrene foam food packaging for food packaged in-store with exemptions for raw meats, poultry, and fish which has minimal impact on grocery stores.

There is a chance 10 Sonoma County jurisdictions could pass a bag ban at the exact same moment. Synchronizing watches is not involved. What is involved is the Sonoma County Waste Management Agency (SCWMA).

SCWMA is a joint powers authority (JPA) comprised of the nine incorporated cities and the County of Sonoma charged with solid waste disposal. As a JPA they can pass ordinances that apply to all member jurisdictions, like garbage disposal rates. In this case SCWMA is pursuing bag regulation.

The benefit of this approach is SCWMA would perform only one EIR and pass only one ordinance which saves time and money. The alternative is each jurisdiction performing their own environmental review and drafting their own ordinance at a cost of over $2 million. For grocers it provides instant regional consistency eliminating cross border competition concerns.

SCWMA representatives agreed at their May meeting to check-in with their home jurisdictions to gauge willingness to proceed. An ordinance banning use of plastic bags at checkout and requiring a retailer retained charge on paper, similar to San Jose, is the current proposal. By August we should know which jurisdictions are interested and who is not. It is important to note a unanimous vote is required for the SCWMA to enact an ordinance of this type.

In the absence of a County Supervisor the Governor of California picks the replacement, not the voters, according to state law. After the untimely passing of Marin County Supervisor Charles McGlashan in late March it was up to Governor Jerry Brown to appoint his replacement. Enter new Marin County Supervisor member Kathrin “Kate” Sears.

Sears is a Marin County native with an impressive resume of legal and government work. She is not known for her work in Marin County, but is known for her work with the former State Attorney General. As Supervising Deputy Attorney General she extracted an $8.6 billion settlement from Bank of America on a predatory lending lawsuit. Yes – Her boss at the time was current Governor Jerry Brown.

While whispers of cronyism may exist, Supervisor Sears will likely earn the respect of Marin County quickly. As a 3rd District native, former Sausalito Planning Commissioner, and top-ranked litigator all signs indicate Sears will do well. Some in the press are predicting Sears will be an “intellectual surprise” for the Board and push them to up their game – Let’s hope. I am sure having the Governor on speed-dial will help her and Marin County tremendously.

We wish the best of luck to Supervisor Spears. But knowing the hectic and personal nature of local government she may prefer suing big banks instead. We will know soon enough since next March she must decide to run as an incumbent Supervisor or move on.

After months of debate, Long Beach passed a carryout bag ordinance tonight that will be implemented on August 1, 2011. The ordinance mostly mirrors the Los Angeles County bag ordinance, which passed in November, 2010. Importantly, the new ordinance drops the County’s quarterly reporting requirement. CGA will offer members additional information on Long Beach’s new ordinance in the coming weeks.

Half Moon Bay Food Packaging Ordinance

Half Moon Bay has placed a food packaging ordinance on their May 17 agenda. This ordinance would ban the use of polystyrene packaging for food packaged in-store. An exemption for raw meats, poultry, fish and eggs in included. If passed, the ordinance goes into effect August 1, 2011.

Half Moon Bay is adopting by reference the San Mateo County ordinance passed earlier in the year. This process means the San Mateo County ordinance will apply to all food retailers in Half Moon Bay. Several San Mateo County jurisdictions are using this process to save staff time and create consistency between neighboring jurisdictions.

A copy of the Staff Report and ordinance is available here as Agenda Item 10.

Major flooding is heading to California on May 17-19, and CGA will be in the thick of the emergency response. Don’t worry, it’s only an exercise!
Every year the California Emergency Management Agency (CalEMA) stages a comprehensive three-day training disaster exercise called Golden Guardian. For 2011, the emergency event will be a catastrophic flood. In response, federal, state, and local emergency management personnel across California are activated to respond as if it is a real emergency.

Dave Heylen, Matthew Dodson, and I will act as liaisons between the government response and California businesses. CGA is a formal partner with CalEMA as part of the Business and Utilities Operations Center (BUOC). Our role will include notifying California businesses of dangers and coordinating needed donations ranging from private helicopters to bottled water.

In the event of a real emergency, CGA’s partnership with CalEMA will provide you the best information available to protect your business and employees, as well as help Californians survive and recover from the incident.

After whithering opposition from CGA and other business advocacy groups, Council voted down a staff recommendation to ban all forms of polystyrene prepared food containers last night and ordered staff to study educational and outreach options to reduce the future use of the products. While Hermosa Beach is a small beach community, the scope of its proposed ordinance would have set a bad precedent by banning such a wide range of products. Meanwhile, Los Angeles County is still working on a task force to examine ways to reduce polystyrene use.

Long Beach’s long-delayed bag ordinance is scheduled to come up for a vote next Tuesday at 5 p.m. The ordinance mirrors Los Angeles County’s bag ordinance, which passed in November.

Following the failure to pass AB 1998 last year, we knew that a hodge-podge of local governments would pass ordinances and we have worked hard to get them to at least keep the details and specs the same, across jurisdictions. Our biggest disappointment is that the City of Los Angeles failed to move forward with an ordinance, creating an uneven playing field for competing grocers in some communities, whereby a store located in unincorporated Los Angeles County must implement the ordinance while a competitor in Los Angeles City proper can continue operating as usual. We believe that every grocer should have an equal chance to compete in a community for customers.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee voted on Thursday to move the Safe Drug Disposal Information Ordinance to the full Board of Supervisors for a final vote. The measure was passed to the Board with Supervisors Mirkarimi, the author, and Campos voting in favor. A representative of Mayor Ed Lee testified in support of the ordinance.

The ordinance requires pharmacies, including those in located in grocery stores, to post information regarding safe and legal disposal of unused pharmaceuticals. This mandated posting is connected to an effort by Mirkarimi to require pharmacies to take back pharmaceuticals on-site. A voluntary pilot project is beginning in the next few months that the city hopes to become permanent.

CGA requested the posting be done voluntarily to better mesh with the pilot project. The committee appreciated the suggestion of a voluntary posting by grocery stores, but felt a mandate would ensure participation and consistency.

CGA will continue to work with the Board and DOE on this ordinance. The Board of Supervisors is likely to bring the ordinance up for a vote within the next few weeks.