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California Considers $1,000 Fine for Waiters Offering Unsolicited Plastic Straws
Reason ^ | 01/25/2018 | Christian Britschgi

Posted on 01/25/2018 10:33:36 AM PST by SeekAndFind

Ian Calderon wants restaurateurs to think long and hard before giving you a straw.

Calderon, the Democratic majority leader in California's lower house, has introduced a bill to stop sit-down restaurants from offering customers straws with their beverages unless they specifically request one. Under Calderon's law, a waiter who serves a drink with an unrequested straw in it would face up to 6 months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

"We need to create awareness around the issue of one-time use plastic straws and its detrimental effects on our landfills, waterways, and oceans," Calderon explained in a press release.

This isn't just Calderon's crusade. The California cities of San Luis Obispo and Davis both passed straws-on-request laws last year, and Manhattan Beach maintains a prohibition on all disposable plastics. And up in Seattle, food service businesses won't be allowed to offer plastic straws or utensils as of July.

The Los Angeles Times has gotten behind the movement, endorsing straws-on-request policies in an editorial that also warned that "repetitive sucking may cause or exacerbate wrinkles on the lips or around the mouth." Celebrity astronomer Neil DeGrasse Tyson (always up for a little chiding) and Entourage star Adrian Grenier have appeared in videos where an octopus slaps them in the face for using a plastic straw.

The actual number of straws being used is unclear. Calderon, along with news outlets writing about this issue—from CNN to the San Francisco Chronicle—unfailingly state that Americans use 500 million plastic straws a day, many of them ending up in waterways and oceans. The 500 million figure is often attributed to the National Park Service; it in turn got it from the recycling company Eco-Cycle.

(Excerpt) Read more at reason.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Government; News/Current Events; US: California
KEYWORDS: california; fine; straws; waiters
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To: Tenacious 1

Sell tee shirts,

“I want 2 straws”.


101 posted on 01/25/2018 11:35:43 AM PST by TheNext
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To: SeekAndFind

Why don’t they focus on something useful. Any car that drives on a 3 lane or greater highway must have a minimum of 4 people in the car. Reducing vehicle use by 50% or more will reduce pollution, reduce accidents and reduce drive time.


102 posted on 01/25/2018 11:36:14 AM PST by EQAndyBuzz (Death of the MSM - "Because it is my show and I don't want to do that." Jake Tapper)
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To: SeekAndFind

Eco fascists are such a h0les.


103 posted on 01/25/2018 11:40:00 AM PST by A strike (Television is almost as racist as Madison Avenue)
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To: EQAndyBuzz

Don’t give California any ideas.


104 posted on 01/25/2018 11:40:36 AM PST by setha (It is past time for the United States to take back what the world took away.)
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To: SeekAndFind

‘What are you in for Kid?’

‘I offered a plastic straw to a Patron.’

‘OOOooohhhhhh.’


105 posted on 01/25/2018 11:42:02 AM PST by Radix (Natural Born Citizens have Citizen parents)
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To: SeekAndFind

Considering the rampant spread of hepatitis in that state, wouldn’t straws be a more sanitary method of drinking than sipping from a potentially not properly washed glass at one of those restaurants?


106 posted on 01/25/2018 11:46:21 AM PST by MamaDearest
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To: SeekAndFind

Make ‘em ask for toilet paper too. Why should a roll be waiting in the stall?


107 posted on 01/25/2018 11:50:57 AM PST by fruser1
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To: SeekAndFind

California is a $hithole of communist repression.


108 posted on 01/25/2018 11:50:58 AM PST by I want the USA back (Doing more of what fails is the definition of liberalism and insanity.)
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To: Texan5; All
"Apparently California lawmakers have enough time on their hands to be grasping at straws..."

At one extreme, California is inviting CO2-exhaling illegal aliens into the state, allowing aliens to have driver’s licenses so that aliens can legally drive vehicles with much bigger carbon footprints.

On the other hand, California is evidently considering a draconian punishment to limit the use of restaurant straws in the name of questionably significant environmental impact.

109 posted on 01/25/2018 11:50:58 AM PST by Amendment10
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To: SeekAndFind

‘The Los Angeles Times has gotten behind the movement, endorsing straws-on-request policies in an editorial that also warned that “repetitive sucking may cause or exacerbate wrinkles on the lips or around the mouth.”’

Dangit, nobody tell the ladies about this finding!!!


110 posted on 01/25/2018 12:02:11 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: BenLurkin

You still need rope and a chair.


111 posted on 01/25/2018 12:14:35 PM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: SeekAndFind
How would such an offense be proven?

Some communist could simply claim their waitress offered a straw unsolicited.

112 posted on 01/25/2018 12:20:31 PM PST by rxsid (HOW CAN A NATURAL BORN CITIZEN'S STATUS BE "GOVERNED" BY GREAT BRITAIN? - Leo Donofrio (2009))
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To: SoCal Pubbie

I’m all for giving these elected officials some REAL issues to deal with that taxpayers are paying for but getting no good results-like rising crime rates in cities, schools so useless that their graduates can’t read above elementary school level, or do simple math calculations-and that’s just a start-make these officials earn their money working on some real “modern problems”...


113 posted on 01/25/2018 12:28:34 PM PST by Texan5 (`"You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Amendment10

The whole thing is as ridiculous as soda taxes, salt and sugar taxes, etc-if they have time for that s***, then the people should demand that they solve some of real problems in the state-starting with the open border and turning the cops into welcoming committees for illegals in some of the major cities...


114 posted on 01/25/2018 12:34:47 PM PST by Texan5 (`"You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: Texan5

The problem there is that the solutions are relatively easy, or at least obvious, but are politically unpalatable to those in power. They involve dealing disproportionally with certain protected groups, and demanding personal accountability, when it’s more popular to blame whitey.


115 posted on 01/25/2018 12:36:41 PM PST by SoCal Pubbie
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To: catman67

LOL!!!!!!!!!


116 posted on 01/25/2018 12:42:59 PM PST by Starboard
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To: papertyger

In the time-honored words of Maxwell Smart - “Sorry about that, Chief!”

Ran across the term many years ago. Guess it left a mark on me as well. Egads! What is known cannot be un-known.


117 posted on 01/25/2018 12:45:44 PM PST by Moltke (Reasoning with a liberal is like watering a rock in the hope to grow a building.)
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To: Hoffer Rand

That struck me as a fabricated statistic, also.


118 posted on 01/25/2018 12:55:37 PM PST by DuncanWaring (The Lord uses the good ones; the bad ones use the Lord.)
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To: SeekAndFind

What if it’s a rainbow straw?


119 posted on 01/25/2018 12:58:53 PM PST by lastchance (Credo.)
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To: SeekAndFind

“repetitive sucking may cause or exacerbate wrinkles on the lips or around the mouth.”

I am going to cover my keyboard right now cause some things just ain’t fittin’ for a fine forum like this.


120 posted on 01/25/2018 1:00:29 PM PST by lastchance (Credo.)
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