LANSING — You read that right. In a rare triple-negative legislative move, Michigan Democrats have moved to allow local municipalities to ban single-use plastic bags, banning a “bag ban-ban” that was put into place by Republicans in 2016.
Seven years ago under Gov. Rick Snyder, the Republican-controlled Legislature moved to restrict the ability of municipal governments to ban single-use plastic bags. Now, a proposed bill would repeal that ban to restore that power to local authorities.
“Prior to 2016, local municipalities had the ability to make decisions for their own communities around auxilary containers — after 2016, that changed,” said sponsor of the bill Rep. Felicia Brabec, D-Pittsfield Township. Prior to serving in the Legislature, Brabec was a member of the Washtenaw County Commission. The body’s action seeking to ban certain single-use plastics was preempted by the state law, she said.
The bill was reported out of the Natural Resources, Environment, Tourism and Outdoor Recreation Committee in a party-line 6-3 vote.
The action comes amid renewed debates on “local control” over environmental policies and days after Michigan Democrats pushed forward environmental policies that removed the ultimate authority over large scale solar and wind projects from local approval boards, instead vesting that authority in a governor-appointed state commission. Republican legislators swiftly denounced these policies as an encroachment of local control and echoed those sentiments following today’s committee meeting.
“There’s a lot of hypocrisy going on when it comes to to local control,” said Rep. Dave Prestin, R-Cedar River. He said Democrats felt it was okay to “take away” local control over the siting projects to meet renewable energy goals and took issue with this move, saying there’s only a focus on plastic bags because they “look bad.”
