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Thanks to the thousands of phone calls / emails, as well as active lobbying in Tallahassee by VolunteerCleanup.Org, Oceana, Clean Miami Beach and other partner organizations, we defeated Senate Bill 1822 / HB 1609 “Regulation of Auxiliary Containers” by Senator Jonathan Martin (R-Lee County)!
SB 1822 and HB 1609 would have taken away local governments’ home rule and ability to regulate any single-use or reusable cup, bottle, bag, or other packaging designed for transporting, consuming, or protecting merchandise, food, or beverages from a retail or food establishment – like we do on beaches around the state. It would also have eliminated existing rules against single-use plastics in State Parks like Ichetucknee Springs State Park, Rainbow Springs State Park, and Weeki Wachee Springs. Louis Aguirre from Local10 News did a great news segment on it – watch here. It’s bad enough that Tallahassee won’t take action against plastic pollution, but they don’t want us to do it either.
You can watch our video that we made to thank the hero of the day (who sacrificed her bill for us) – House Rep Meg Weinberger. We also want to thank Senator Carlos Smith, Senator Jason Pizzo, Senator Ileana Garcia, Senator Shevrin Jones, House Rep Alex Rizo, House Rep Robin Bartleman, House Rep Fabian Basabe, House Rep Anna Eskamani, and House Rep Marie P. Woodson for their support and advocacy.
Unfortunately, we expect we will have to fight this again next year. 😕