• Listen to this segment

• Listen to the entire program

The California Legislature rejected two bills this week in a major victory for the state’s chemical industry. A bill AB 1998, to ban plastic bags from the state failed to pass off the Senate floor with a vote of 14-21 on Tuesday. Californians use 19 million plastic bags each year, costing the state $25 million annually to collect and dump into landfills where they will never fully biodegrade. Also on Tuesday SB 797, the “Toxin-Free Infants and Toddlers” Act was defeated in the Senate on a purely procedural vote. It had already passed Assembly and the Senate but needed a procedural approval vote by the Senate once more. That bill would have banned the toxic chemical Bisphenol A from children’s bottles, sippy cups and infant formula cans. The chemical industry spent millions of dollars lobbying the legislature intensely on the basis of protecting manufacturing jobs and protecting personal choice.

GUEST: Bill Allayaud, California Director of Affairs for the Environmental Working Group

Find out more at www.ewg.org.