Los Angeles Bag Ban Opponents Plan Supreme Court Appeal After Ruling

Opponents of Los Angeles’ bag ban intend to appeal to the California Supreme Court after a state appeals court agreed with a lower court in upholding the Los Angeles county law.

The law, which took affect last year, prohibits retail stores from providing single-use plastic carryout bags and requires stores to charge customers 10 cents per each bag requested. Opponents argue that the 10-cent fee is a tax that was not approved by county voters.

The Second Appellate District court of California, however, ruled that it is not a tax under the state constitution because the charge is payable to and retained by the retail store and is not given to the county, according to court records.

Opponents of the bag ban are represented by the San Rafael, Calif-based law firm of Nielsen Merksamer Parrinello Gross & Leoni LLP. “We respectfully disagree with the court’s ruling,” said James Parrinello, lead counsel for the plaintiffs and senior litigation partner at the firm. “We continue to believe that the ten-cent bag ‘charge’ is a violation of Proposition 26, which mandates that ‘any levy, charge or exaction of any kind imposed by a local government’ must be approved by local voters. We intend to seek Supreme Court review.”