Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) joined Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn), Assemblyman Michael Cusick (D-Staten Island) and dozens of elected officials in signing on to state legislation that would block the City Council’s five-cent grocery bag fee. After just one day of circulation, the state-proposed bill has already garnered the support of over 20 elected officials, and is sure to rise exponentially.
“It’s ridiculous that my fellow New Yorkers are continuing to be nickel and dimed,” said an outraged Hikind. “This motion to charge consumers a nickel for their grocery bags is an unfair tax on hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.”
Last week, the City Council voted in favor of a bill, 28-20, that would require certain retailers to collect a fee on each carryout bag, paper or plastic, beginning on Oct. 1. After much controversy behind the five-cent hike, Sen. Simcha Felder (D-Brooklyn) and Assemblyman Michael Cusick’s (D-Staten Island) then proposed a bill of their own that would protect New Yorkers from taxes or fees on the use of plastic bags, which was unanimously passed by the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Cities to the Senate floor yesterday.
“This is just one more thing New Yorkers have to worry about,” Hikind continued. “Grocery shopping is an extreme burden, and this bill that passed through the City Council would only add to that burden. As consumers, we now have to worry about making sure we have our reusable bags handy every time we go to the supermarket, or we’re hit with a charge. It’s absolutely ridiculous and must be stopped.”
(YWN Desk – NYC)
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4 Responses
It’s long overdue that NYC residents be protected from ridiculous government actions. Did anyone wanting this legislation think of those New Yorkers shopping for large families. Just imagine what it would mean to those who come out of the supermarket with 10 or more shopping bags. Aside from the cost, there is also the inconvenience. This after hitting shoppers over the head with Muni-meters, oft not functioning properly, causing consumers to waste time and energy searching for functional meters, wasting the time that can be a distance back to the car losing part of the hour. Then expected to make it back on time or risk a summons.
There are some government officials who are trying to frustrate New Yorkers, perhaps the goal is to drive more people to leave the city.
Sanity by Democrats?
What doesn’t make any sense to me is how can you allow the store who is making a profit on each bag decide how many bags they will give you. This is a recipe for disaster at the checkout counter. Imagine your making your Shabbos order The clerk starts packing – will you allow him to put 2 items into one bag. So he’ll overload your bags and then people will complain if the bag plotzes or something breaks.
Which committee that Hikind chairs can stop this? acc. to his website Hikind sits on no committees is this true?