Plastic Pollution Bill Fails in the House

Media Contacts

Environment Georgia

Atlanta, GA—Today the Georgia House of Representative voted down SB 139 by a vote of  67 to 85. The legislation would have prohibited local governments from passing ordinances that would, for example, ban or put a fee on plastic bags.

“The plastic industry and their friends clearly over reached today,” said Jennette Gayer, Director of Environment Georgia. “I’m glad the Georgia House preserved the right of cities, counties, pubic schools and universities to deal with pollution from bags and other one time use plastic as they see fit.”

SB 139 was authored by Senator Tyler Harber (Ocila) and passed out of the Senate on Feb. 26th by a vote of 32-19. The timing of SB 139 also coincides with efforts on Tybee Island to ban single use plastic bags.

“GreenLaw supports the right of communities to draft laws to protect their environmental health,” said the Executive Director of GreenLaw Stephanie Stuckey Benfield. “By voting down SB 139, the Georgia House voted in favor of local control.”

Many organizations including the Georgia Water Coalition banded together to form a grassroots network of opposition to SB 139.

“Democracy was alive in the Georgia House today and the bipartisan vote that defeated this effort demonstrates that when given the choice, Georgians choose people over profit,” said Colleen Kiernan the Georgia Chapter Director of the Sierra Club.

Topics