This might be my favorite bill of the year:
Senate Bill 54
Sponsors: Senators Wiik, Curd, Ewing, Greenfield(Brock), Maher, Monroe, Novstrup, Partridge, Stalzer, and Steinhauer and Representatives Post, Deutsch, Finck, Gross, Hunhoff, Koth, Mulally, Qualm, Rounds, Willadsen, York, and Zikmund
Section 1. That § 34A-6-92 be AMENDED:
34A-6-92. Beverage containers, garbage bags, and plastic packaging materials–Preemption–Specially designated garbage bags.
The provisions of chapter 34A-7 relating to beverage containers, garbage bags, and garbage can liners, auxiliary containers, and § 34A-6-68 relating to uniform recycling codes for plastic containers, shall preempt all laws by any other political subdivision of the state relating to auxiliary containers, beverage containers, garbage bags, straws used for beverage consumption, or plastic packaging materials. No other political subdivision of the state may enact any law restricting the use in commerce of plastic auxiliary containers, beverage containers, garbage bags, straws used for beverage consumption, or plastic packaging materials. Nothing in §§ 34A-6-59 to 34A-6-92, inclusive, may be construed to limit a political subdivision from allowing or requiring specially designated garbage bags for the purpose of identifying volume or type of waste or restricting the use of glass bottles and containers within park or recreation sites and facilities due to public safety concerns.
Led by Senator John Wiik in the Senate, and my own State Representative Doug Post in the House, the measure takes direct aim at municipalities overtaken by bouts of political correctness who are seeking to ban the use of plastic bags and straws (Such as Brookings who is currently debating taking plastic bags from about EVERY RETAILER & RESTAURANT ON MAIN STREET.)
Good for the legislature for standing up for retailers and small businesspeople.
(Bonus: Hey! LRC figured it out and we have HTML functionality back)
I really don’t care about this issue at all but don’t republicans believe in local control? Asking for a friend.
Local control is all just a rhetorical flourish. Y’all <3 local control until the locals try to do something you don't like, then you run to papa big government and ask him to make it all better for you. Such fun!
In this case I believe the legislature AND local government got it wrong. The decision should be on the business owner weather to use paper or plastic.
I generally agree with you. However, as long as the local government is responsible for the landfill, local governments have some say on what goes in the landfill.
I’m not disagreeing with you. If the landfill wants to charge extra for plastics, I’m okay with that. But that is going into the landfill, not as purchased by the business or at the transaction with the consumer.
Ditto what Platonic said.
Meanwhile, Carl Perry and his Nettlesome Syndicate of Nanny State Nincompoops are considering wiping out an entire industry via a flavored vaping products ban. Really looking out for Main Street, guys…
(Source: https://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/lawmakers-weigh-ban-on-many-flavors-of-vaping-products/article_93589ec6-3bee-54d2-ae96-b490887f490f.html)
Off subject but they should be banned. Quoting a famous Vulcan. “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”. Marketed to kids who put those THC cartridges in them. Kids and adult are getting their lungs destroyed. Individual user’s lungs destroyed or permanent injury, family members and all the way to taxpayers and policy holders that also end up paying in one way or another. Objection is illogical.
Why is not burnable trash burned?, instead of going to a landfill. We live in the country and burn our burnables… to my thinking this is better than filling up the landfill.
Springer, if you saw the volume of trash that goes into a landfill everyday, the air would be filled with smoke every day. And, I’m not sure you folks in the country would like it if we did the burning in the country. Heck, country folks oppose wind farms so I’m pretty sure incinerators aren’t going to be popular. Plus, some things that would get inadvertently included in the “burn pile” would be a health hazard and during the summer we would have a fire hazard.
Recycle what can be recycled. burn what can be burned, use that heat to generate electricity for all the electric cars?
A trash powered car?
This is ridiculous. Don’t act like your sticking up for “main street”, this is about “sticking it to the hippie libs.” Of course this waste of time is your favorite bill of the year. Profit above all else, right?
Who’s the SD business owner with deep pockets “lobbying” for this? Cuz it smells like corruption.
Pat, how exactly do these bans hurt retailers and small businesspeople? Is the theory really that if a restaurant can’t hand out straws with every drink they sell, people will quit buying them, or will go to a restaurant in some other city? Or that if the store can’t put stuff in a plastic bag anymore, people will quit buying the stuff?
Actually, straw bans – aside from the big brother issues – immediately impact the disabled the disability community, because there’s a lot of people with grasping and physical drinking issues who need a straw. People should be able to request them, and plastic straw bans cause huge headaches. (and paper straws often won’t do the job because they’re not bendy).
Great essay on the topic here:
https://www.vox.com/first-person/2018/7/19/17587676/straws-plastic-ban-disability
(And sometimes straws stand for freedom)
Oh, I know about the problem straw bans pose for people with certain disabilities. But the only way I can get from there to the “attacking main street retailers” and “standing up for retailers and small businesspeople” language in your original post is that the harm is a potential ADA lawsuit over straw bans- but that seems easily solved by a carve out like “no restaurant may give out a plastic straw except upon request to accomodate a disability” in the ban. And still doesn’t explain how plastic bag bans harm retailers.
Why does the legislature continue to focus on things it doesn’t like that it hears about on Fox News as opposed to things that are actual problems in SD?!?!
Not a single city or municipality is considering banning straws or bags, go virtue signal on someone else’s dime please!
https://www.ksfy.com/content/news/Brookings-City-Council-considers-eliminating-plastic-bags-565902441.html
The comment on incineration is not so far off. Propane or Natural gas high temp incineration along with afterburn/converters firing power generation would likely have very minimal long term cost as compared to land fill, with negligible atmospheric effects. The bill’s authors have too much time on their hands. In business, customer demands dictate and should not be turned over to socialist state or local bs which also needs an incinerator.
This morning I ran into an “old elephant” from the Reagan-Janklow wing. We both agreed there are just too many legislators that are just plain stupid. Well-intended. Dedicated to doing good. Solid conservative values. And flat out morons who are intellectually overwhelmed with big issues they can’t understand so they get in the sandbox of tiny ides they can understand.
Part of being a conservative activist in our towns is to work hard at educating on the local area. Win the intellectual battle on the grass roots and you can do big things. Run to mommy (Pierre) makes you just a phony conservative, just another person who wants a big government who will serve your purposes instead of deferring decisions to the entity closest to the people (which often should be the parents).
We see who conservatives put in the white house. Why wouldn’t the same thing apply at the state level.
Again, the Legislature proves it doesn’t have enough to do to merit annual sessions. On the other hand, God help us if these “leaders” had even more time to watch the Tweeter-in-Chief’s favorite network or go to ALEC meetings and bring back all this worthless junk.
I oppose any governmental ban on plastic bags or straws, but using them is not constitutional right and a ban in one municipality will not negatively affect the residents of another municipality, which means that the state government should not be interfering in what is a local issue.
This is my point exactly. And, the substance (I’m not talking symbolism) is significant. Building a just America depends on the natural tension and conflict of two competing goods (as opposed of imposition by fiat by banana republic-like power hungry Statists whether it be in Congress, Legislature, or City Commissions and corresponding Executives)):
1) The principle of the solidarity (no person is an island) where the interests of the individual MUST be tempered by the interest of the whole (family, neighborhood, city, state, nation, or world).
2) The principle of subsidiarity (no person is a slave) where authority should always rest with the lowest (least centralized) competent entity. Usually this is the individual or family but some matters in context with solidarity move up the chain to neighborhood, city, state, and ultimately nation.
In most cases, gravity of harm or complexity of the issue moves the matter up the chain. The current concentration of authority in the CDC regarding the current Wuhan virus outbreak is a good example of why this is a federal matter and dealing with it is not left to either families or cities or even the state.
Except that the sponsors of this bill (God forbid this mentality is a majority of the Legislature) desire to impose their will on a local government and local voters, there is no compelling reason why the authority to decide this issue is the Legislature.
1) There is no grave harm to anyone outside any community which would make this decision. In fact, one is hard pressed to say there is any harm. If there is a cost to implement, it is easily passed onto the people whose government enacted this ordinance.
2) Its not a complex issue. The local government (for good reason, bad reason, or no reason at all) enacted a regulation which will have daily noticeable impact and if the public opposes this decision there is an upcoming election to deal with this.
I know there are going to be local people who say “I don’t want to live under this.” Just like there are liberals in South Dakota who don’t want to live under our laws different from those in Minnesota. Do we then endorse them running to the federal government to impose minority will on us? How is this running to State government any different.
If one is really a conservative and committed to smaller and control at the lowest possible level, I need to hear a much better argument for Pierre getting involved than I do. And, if you have no better argument, you aren’t really a conservative. You are must another Statist whose only difference with progressives is how you want to deny freedom to the people.
I see Sen Maher’s name on this attempt for a bill.
What has come from his reporting of the young native girl who had called begging for help from being abused by drugs and trafficking if I remember right? She died of suicide a few months after he reported it. The usual excuse by state officials has been, but, but, they are sovereign.
How about a good whistleblower bill?
Who could Serenity Dennard go to as a child in need of protection under Gov Noem’s attempts to bring change for that arena?
As far as that goes, who could Sen Maher go to with information on state government agents, employees and other tools too numerous to mention?
We all saw and stood idly by while Gov Janklow threatened State Treasure Richard Butler with felony crimes for trying to report the corruption found after taking office. Janklow would later close state government to the public.
If the person in charge is the one with their hands around your throat, who will hear your cries?
Absolutely the sorriest bunch you could possibly assemble when they leave camp in March with these issues on the table. This is a case for ‘the sins of omission’ good Christian Legislators.