2:01pm |  Editor’s note: The following is a letter to the editor submitted by Eastside Long Beach resident Jason Aula, political director for the Long Beach Young Republicans.

Dear Editor,

California’s Green jihad has led to bad business decisions all over L.A. County, including Long Beach. Since before the recession California manufacturing has been on a decline. Los Angeles, which is still the nation’s largest industrial area, has lost a remarkable one-fifth of its manufacturing employment since 2005. California’s green theology has lead to multiple illogical economic and political decisions. The plastic bag ban laws in L.A. County and Long Beach are textbook examples!

In November of 2010, California voters passed Proposition 26, which requires local government to achieve a supermajority vote to pass new taxes and fees such as the fee associated with the plastic bag ban in Long Beach. Even though the city receives no money from this fee, the city government is still controlling how bag revenue is used. Requirements for how revenue is used means retailers are acting as an agent of the government, which under Proposition 26 would qualify as a fee. Proposition 26 is supposed to stop politicians from using a loophole to raise even more taxes by disguising them as fees.

What this means is that every part of the plastic bag ban, except for the fee, is legal until the city of Long Beach can put the issue to a citywide vote. This vote would need to achieve a two-thirds supermajority to make this 10-cent paper bag surcharge legal.
Lets save the environment by banning plastic bags the way San Francisco has without a fee, a fee that will drive shoppers away from Long Beach. 

Why hasn’t anyone taken this up in the local Long Beach courts?

Jason Aula
Eastside Long Beach
Long Beach Young Republicans Political Director