California lawmakers pass legislation to ban plastic bags from grocery stores

Lawmakers have passed a pair of identical bills to ban all plastic grocery bags in the state of California. 

The companion bills, AB-2236 and SB-1053, both aim to completely prohibit grocers from offer any type of bags that aren't paper. 

Their purpose is to "incentivize California consumers to bring their own reusable bag for carrying out store purchases, with stores encouraging and supporting this practice, which will reduce the costly and wasteful practice of relying on store-provided carryout bags."

The Senate bill was penned by Southern California Senators Catherine Blakespear and Ben Allen, while the bill passed through Assembly was authored by Assembly member Rebecca Bauer-Kahan. 

SB-1053 passed on Wednesday with a 32-8 vote, while AB-2236 passed the next day with a 31-8-1 vote. 

Now that they have both been approved, they will head to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk to see if they officially become law. If signed into effect, it will start as early as Jan. 1, 2026. 

The identical bills come nearly a decade after similar legislation first passed in 2014, but a loophole allowed stores to offer "thicker plastic carryout bags that were deemed reusable."

In 2016, voters approved Proposition 67, which again upheld that law.

However, a study from CALPIRG revealed that the thicker plastic was a major contributing factor in a nearly 50% jump in the amount of plastic bags that were thrown away when comparing 2014 to 2021.