Senator Simcha Felder and Assemblyman Michael Cusick’s bill (S.7336) to protect New Yorkers from taxes or fees on the use of plastic bags was unanimously passed by the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Cities to the Senate Floor yesterday. The bill would stop the move by the New York City Council to impose a tax on every plastic bag used to carry out groceries or other merchandise from a retailer.

“The last thing that New Yorkers need is another regressive tax,” said Senator Felder, who has fought the plastic bag tax since his days as a NY City Councilman. “I’ve been disgusted every time I’ve heard the absurd plastic bag tax legislation introduced. It’s about time New York City stops nickel and diming New Yorkers. This tax places an undue financial burden on countless low- and middle-income New Yorkers who are already struggling. Perhaps worst of all, it also presents a serious public health problem, by encouraging people to bring reusable bags back into stores, spreading things like salmonella, bacteria and other food-borne diseases, and putting both the person reusing the bag as well as all the other customers in the store at risk.”

The bill has broad bipartisan support in the Senate.

Assemblyman Michael Cusick (Staten Island) is an equally strong opponent to the New York City Bag Tax, and has introduced the bill to stop it in the State Assembly. Cusick declared, “As the Assembly Member who represents and helped to close the former Fresh Kills Landfill, I am all too familiar with the harm that improperly disposed plastic bags do to our environment and to the cleanliness of our communities. However, a charge for plastic and paper bags in the City of New York will not solve this problem; instead it is a misguided attempt that will only squeeze more money from the hardworking families of our City. I am proud to Sponsor this legislation to prohibit this tax on consumers from being enacted, and I urge my colleagues in State and City government to come together to develop sensible and honest solutions that will both benefit our environment and the budgets of the families we represent.”

Senator Felder will be holding a public hearing on his Plastic Bag Bill at 250 Broadway in New York City (the State Office Building) on June 3.

(YWN Desk – NYC)