South Lake Tahoe Mayor wants to revisit plastic bag ban for retail stores

On June 14, 2014, the South Lake Tahoe City Council voted to delay the implementation of the second phase of the plastic bag ban in the city. Originally slated to begin on October 15, 2014, the Council, by a vote of 3-2, moved the start date out one year to October 15, 2015.

Now that the second phase of the ban has started, Mayor Hal Cole wants to revisit that portion of the ban.

Cole said he wants to undo the ban on plastic bags for retail stores and asked for the topic to be on an upcoming agenda.

A hot issue in 2013 and 2014, proponents for the ban were always the majority speaking at City Council meetings. Everyone from students to small business owners and the Tahoe Chamber spoke at the June 14 meeting, urging Council to go forward with a full ban of plastic bags in South Lake Tahoe. Even with the public support of a complete ban, Cole, Tom Davis and JoAnn Conner voted in favor of giving business owners an additional year to comply.

Now, the City needs to revisit the ordinance, just five days after it went into affect. Councilmembers Austin Sass and Wendy David were not on the Council during the ordinance votes. Former Councilmembers Angela Swanson and Brooke Laine were always proponents and wanted the City to lead the way in protecting the environment.

A plastic bag ban for the State of California that was to start in July, 2015 was delayed after its approval. The Secretary of State received enough signatures from opponents to put the ban on a referendum in November of 2016.

History of Plastic Bag Ban in South Lake Tahoe:

September, 2012 - City's Sustainability Committee eyes plastic bag ban

October, 2013 - Plastic Bag Ban is voted on to start in January, 2014

November, 2013 - Informational meeting about ban for locals

January, 2014 - First Phase of Plastic Bag Ban starts

June, 2014 - Second Phase of Plastic Bag Ban is delayed

June, 2014 - Editorial by South Tahoe Now on doing the right thing and banning plastic

August, 2015 - Beach Clean-ups have rise in trash collected, but 50% less in numbers of plastic bags