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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: Texan5

That is exactly the case. California politicians are far worse than most but this is happening to one degree or another all over. Basically western societies (and many in other areas such as Japan) have basically solved all basic problems. Food, shelter, and medical care are not life threatening concerns as they were centuries ago. So perceived slights such as micro agressions and carbon footprint become mortal sins in the modern age. And politicians have two ways of dealing with such awful problems. Taxation or prohibition. That’s the gamut of political creativity today.


61 posted on 01/25/2018 10:56:40 AM PST by SoCal Pubbie
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To: WayneS

Sounds reasonable to me.


62 posted on 01/25/2018 10:57:10 AM PST by DiogenesLamp ("of parents owing allegiance to no other sovereignty.")
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To: SeekAndFind

6 months in jail for offering a straw????????


63 posted on 01/25/2018 10:57:16 AM PST by Opinionated Blowhard ("When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.")
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To: SeekAndFind

WELL!

That’s the last straw!


64 posted on 01/25/2018 10:58:01 AM PST by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
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To: SeekAndFind

I always bring my organically grown, fair trade, artisan crafted bamboo straw with me.


65 posted on 01/25/2018 10:58:03 AM PST by BBQToadRibs
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To: WayneLusvardi

didn’t straws used to be made of paper and wax


Yes, they did. And if it was a big drink, the straw would become flaccid and useless before you finished.


66 posted on 01/25/2018 10:58:52 AM PST by hanamizu
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To: bkopto

That sucks!


67 posted on 01/25/2018 10:58:56 AM PST by SuperLuminal (Where is another agitator for republicanism like Sam Adams when we need him?)
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To: OrangeHoof

“This is what it comes to - jail terms for passing out straws.”

And yet clean needle exchanges for heroin addicts is encouraged. Bizarro-Land.


68 posted on 01/25/2018 10:59:58 AM PST by BBQToadRibs
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To: SeekAndFind
unfailingly state that Americans use 500 million plastic straws a day

Fortunately, I can get my 500 million for $6.95 at Costco.

69 posted on 01/25/2018 11:00:42 AM PST by glock rocks (... so much win!)
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To: SeekAndFind

Perhaps they shouldn’t offer a straw but a “felching utensil”? No one in California would object to that.


70 posted on 01/25/2018 11:04:48 AM PST by Moltke (Reasoning with a liberal is like watering a rock in the hope to grow a building.)
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To: Cecily

Soon at a California prison:

Prisoner 1: “What are you in for?”

Prisoner 2: “I raped a 10-year-old. You?”

Prisoner 1: “I shot up a mosque.”

Prisoner 3: “I offered a straw.”

Prisoner 4: “Think that’s bad, I refused to bake a cake.”


71 posted on 01/25/2018 11:05:01 AM PST by OrangeHoof (Donald Trump: Doing the work American politicians just won't do.)
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To: SeekAndFind

They sure have their priorities straight there.


72 posted on 01/25/2018 11:06:36 AM PST by EdnaMode
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To: SeekAndFind

Waxed paper straws worked for a long time before plastics.


73 posted on 01/25/2018 11:07:43 AM PST by JimRed ( TERM LIMITS, NOW! Build the Wall Faster! TRUTH is the new HATE SPEECH.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Ian Calderon is either nuts or a communist.

Sorry for the repetition.

5.56mm


74 posted on 01/25/2018 11:09:36 AM PST by M Kehoe
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To: Huskrrrr

And struggling actors in LA.


75 posted on 01/25/2018 11:09:44 AM PST by EdnaMode
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To: SeekAndFind
California non-citizen Democrat...want this guy voting for in your elections?


76 posted on 01/25/2018 11:10:21 AM PST by yoe ("The FBI did everything but drive Hillary's get away car.......")
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To: M Kehoe
RE: Ian Calderon is either nuts or a communist. Sorry for the repetition.

Reminds me of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau...


He is currently serving as the Assembly Majority Leader.
77 posted on 01/25/2018 11:12:22 AM PST by SeekAndFind
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To: Rebelbase

So now the snotty elite who get pissed at ever server can claim they were offered a straw.


If this passes the only smart course for restaurants is to not have straws at all.


78 posted on 01/25/2018 11:12:37 AM PST by samtheman (Liberalism is a mental disease.)
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To: SeekAndFind

Well, that sucks.


79 posted on 01/25/2018 11:12:49 AM PST by TADSLOS (Reset Underway!)
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To: AngelesCrestHighway

Be kind, these Cali’s spend a lot of time trying to entertain the rest of the country, and they’re doing a pretty good job.


80 posted on 01/25/2018 11:13:25 AM PST by MrKatykelly (Hello)
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