Board Accountability Bill
Delegate Washington Proposes Board Accountability Bill
A retail bag fee, a retail bag ban and a prohibition on school board-issued credit cards are among over 20 bills under consideration by the Prince George’s County Delegation for the upcoming 2015 General Assembly legislative session.
PG416-15 would authorize Prince George’s to impose a fee on disposable paper and plastic bags used in retail establishments, similar to five-cent fees already charged in Washington, D.C., and Montgomery County.
The bill’s sponsor, Senator Paul Pinsky (D-Dist. 22) of Hyattsville said he feels there is enough support to pass this year. It has failed to pass out of the delegation for the past four years in a row, which Pinsky said is due to lobbying by the plastic bag manufacturing industry.
“I think it’s an idea whose time has come,” Pinsky said.
Pinsky said disposable plastic bags are an environmental hazard that costs the county millions of dollars in clean up costs each year.
Pinsky said customers are already paying for the bags in terms of higher prices that are built into the products they buy.
“Even if I bring my own bags, I still end up paying for plastic,” Pinsky said. “Now, it would be an add-on you could choose to pay or not.”
Del. Jay Walker (D-Dist. 26) of Fort Washington, chairman of the county delegation, said he wants to go one step further sponsoring a bill, PG403-15, that would give the county the authority to ban stores from issuing plastic shopping bags outright.
In September, California became the first state to pass legislation banning plastic bags, effective July 2015. Several counties in Hawaii have enacted similar bans.
“We complain so much about the environmental dangers of plastic bags, so why do we allow them to be used in our county?” Walker said. “If we’re talking about changing people’s behavior, then this is something we need to consider.”
The bill, if passed, would require the Prince George’s County Council to pass similar legislation before it took effect.
The bill as written bans disposable shopping bags, both paper and plastic, but Walker said the intent of the bill is not to ban paper bags.
“We’re going to have to fine-tune it a little bit,” Walker said.
Another bill on the delegation’s agenda, PG306-15, would establish a task force to look at the creation of a juvenile assessment center in the county.
The bill’s author, Del. Geraldine Valentino-Smith (D-Dist. 23A) of Bowie, said a juvenile assessment center would provide targeted services to assist youth referred to the Department of Juvenile Services and would help keep them out of the criminal justice system.
“It is one of the most important endeavors in our county,” Valentino-Smith said. “I think how we handle and assess our juveniles is at least as important as our business development endeavors to the future of our county.”
For the second year in a row, Del. Alonzo Washington (D-Dist. 22) of Hyattsville has put forward a bill that would prohibit county credit cards being issued to members of the Board of Education.
Currently, board members are issued credit cards to pay for allowable expenses they would otherwise be reimbursed for, such as travel, business meals or accommodations.
A public hearing on the bills is scheduled at 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Sports and Learning Complex in Landover.
The 2015 legislative session begins in Annapolis Jan. 14.
Source: The Gazette
Author: Jamie Anfenson-Comeau
Date: December 9, 2014