Add Art 27 Title 33 §§27-3301 - 27-3305, En Con L; add §399-tt, Gen Bus L
Provides that restaurants may provide single-use plastic straws to customers when explicitly requested by the customer; prohibits single-use plastic stirrers.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A207A
SPONSOR: Rosenthal L TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the environmental conservation law and the general busi-
ness law, in relation to prohibitions on single-use plastic straws and
stirrers in restaurants
PURPOSE:
This bill will reduce plastic pollution by prohibiting bars and restau-
rants from providing single-use plastic straws unless requested by the
customer.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Section one amends article 27 of the environmental conservation law by
adding a new title 33.
Section two amends the general business law by adding a new section
399-tt. Section three sets forth the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
According to the United States National Park Service, Americans use 500
million plastic drinking straws each day. A majority of these straws
come from restaurants and other food service establishments where it is
common for a single-use plastic straw to be provided with each beverage
served. Plastic straws and plastic beverage stirrers are quickly
disposed of and end up in our landfills and waterways, where they are
often ingested by land and marine animals.
Plastic straws and stirrers, typically made of a material called poly-
propylene, may break down into smaller pieces over long periods of time,
but never completely biodegrade. It is said that nearly every plastic
straw ever used still exists in some form. While some plastics are able
to be recycled, plastic straws and stirrers are too small to be proc-
essed by recycling equipment.
By prohibiting restaurants from habitually handing out straws with every
beverage served and switching over to a straws "upon request only"
system, these establishments will be able to markedly reduce the number
of straws and stirrers that end up in landfills and waterways each year,
creating a cleaner and safer environment for humans and animals alike.
Further, this legislation will also prohibit restaurants from providing
plastic stirrers, instead requiring that they use wood, paper or other
compostable materials.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2019-20: A.90-A - Reported to Codes; S.1477-A - Referred to Environ-
mental Conservation
2017-18: A.9994-B - Reported to Codes; S.8726-B - Referred to Environ-
mental Conservation
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect in 120 days.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
207--A
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 6, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, LUPARDO, TAYLOR, GLICK, NIOU, GOTT-
FRIED, J. RIVERA, SEAWRIGHT, SIMON, GALEF, BARRETT, BRONSON, STECK,
WEPRIN, FAHY, RAMOS, REYES, EPSTEIN, PAULIN, COLTON, JACOBSON, OTIS,
McMAHON, GONZALEZ-ROJAS, BURDICK, ZINERMAN, FERNANDEZ, PERRY, ABINAN-
TI, HEVESI, BROWN -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. THIELE -- read
once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation --
reported and referred to the Committee on Codes -- recommitted to the
Committee on Codes in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec. 2 --
committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended and
recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law and the general busi-
ness law, in relation to prohibitions on single-use plastic straws and
stirrers in restaurants
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Article 27 of the environmental conservation law is amended
2 by adding a new title 33 to read as follows:
3 TITLE 33
4 PLASTIC STRAW AND STIRRER RESTRICTIONS
5 Section 27-3301. Definitions.
6 27-3303. Single-use plastic straws and stirrers.
7 27-3305. Enforcement.
8 § 27-3301. Definitions.
9 For the purposes of this title, "restaurant" means any diner or other
10 eating or beverage establishment, which offers for sale food or beverag-
11 es to the public, guests, members, or patrons, whether consumption
12 occurs on or off the premises.
13 § 27-3303. Single-use plastic straws and stirrers.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00359-05-2
A. 207--A 2
1 1. (a) Restaurants may not provide single-use plastic straws unless
2 explicitly requested by the customer.
3 (b) No inquiry into the reason for the request shall be made by a
4 restaurant or any of its employees in carrying out the request author-
5 ized by paragraph (a) of this subdivision.
6 2. Restaurants are prohibited from providing customers with single-use
7 plastic stirrers.
8 3. (a) Nothing in this section shall preclude a restaurant from
9 providing customers with non-plastic straws or stirrers as an alterna-
10 tive to single-use plastic straws and stirrers, including, but not
11 limited to, straws and/or stirrers made from paper, sugar cane, bamboo
12 or compostable materials.
13 (b) Restaurants that provide compostable straws or stirrers to custom-
14 ers are required to have access to curbside collection of food waste for
15 composting.
16 4. Single-use plastic straws provided by a restaurant, pursuant to
17 subdivision one of this section, shall not be individually wrapped in
18 plastic, except for prepackaged individual serving beverages where a
19 plastic straw is included in the packaging.
20 § 27-3305. Enforcement.
21 Every local department of health shall ensure compliance with this
22 title as part of an inspection of a food place pursuant to section thir-
23 teen hundred fifty-one of the public health law, the provisions of the
24 sanitary code and provisions of local ordinances or regulations. Any
25 establishment that violates this title shall be liable for a civil
26 penalty in the amount of two hundred dollars for the first violation,
27 three hundred dollars for the second violation committed on a different
28 day within a period of twelve months, and five hundred dollars for the
29 third and each subsequent violation committed on different days within a
30 period of twelve months, except that the local department of health
31 shall not issue a notice of violation, but shall issue a warning and
32 provide information on compliance with such section, for any violation
33 that occurs within one year of the effective date of this section.
34 § 2. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 399-
35 tt to read as follows:
36 § 399-tt. Single-use plastic straws. Restaurants may only provide
37 single-use plastic straws to customers where explicitly requested by the
38 customer pursuant to title thirty-three of article twenty-seven of the
39 environmental conservation law.
40 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after
41 it shall have become a law.
