California voters approve Proposition 67

California voters have approved Proposition 67, which implements a statewide ban on single-use plastic carryout bags. The decision to ban plastic bags won by a vote of 52.5 percent in favor of the ban, 47.5 percent against.

The ban takes effect immediately across the state in all 482 cities and 58 counties. The approval of Proposition 67 ratified California Senate Bill 270, which was designed to prohibit large grocery stores and pharmacies from providing plastic single-use carryout bags and ban small grocery stores, convenience stores and liquor stores from doing it the following year.

Customers failing to bring their own reusable bags will pay 10 cents per recyclable paper bag or reusable alternative.

With the vote, California becomes the first state to ban the sale of plastic single-use bags. The law begins immediately.

The law does allow city and county governments to continue to operate under their own ordinances if the guidelines were adopted before Jan. 1, 2015. If they were not, communities must comply with the new state law.

Proposition 67 allocates revenue from the sales to the stores themselves, permitting them to use the revenue in three ways:

• to cover costs associated with complying with Proposition 67;

• to cover the costs of providing the recycled paper or reusable bags; and

• to provide educational materials encouraging the use of reusable bags.