For the second time in three years, Gov. Laura Kelly has vetoed a bill barring local governments from regulating plastic grocery bags and other material.
“I believe in local control and that local officials should be held accountable by their constituents, stakeholders, and businesses,” Kelly said in a statement.
“This bill lacks sufficient protection to ensure local units of government are able to play a meaningful role in decision making on issues impacting their communities,” she said.
The bill passed 24-16 in the Senate and 72-51 in the House, both short of the votes needed for an override.
Two years ago, the Senate voted 27-12 to override the governor’s veto of a bill barring local governments from regulating plastic grocery bags.
The House didn’t attempt a veto override that year.
Last year, the Legislature took another attempt to ban local limits on plastic bags.
It was was passed in the House on a 72-51 vote. It was not acted on in the Senate until this year, when it passed and was sent to the governor.
Last month, the city of Lawrence implemented a new ordinance that prohibited stores from providing single-use disposable plastic bags to customers at the point of sale.
Cities opposed the legislation, saying it was “reactionary legislation to a non-existent problem” and erodes their constitutional home-rule authority.
They said that many grocers such as Aldi, Whole Foods and Natural Grocers already do not provide plastic bags, and others such as Wal-Mart and Dillons are committed to removing them from their stores.
“The market place is telling the Legislature that bills like this are unnecessary,” Spencer Duncan, lobbyist for the League of Kansas Municipalities, told lawmakers during a hearing last month.
Supporters of the bill said it would bring regulatory uncertainty for small businesses.
“Many small businesses buy the products outlined in the bill in large quantities to take advantage of economies of scale,” said Dan Murray, Kansas state director for the National Federation of Independent Business.
“Restricting their ability to purchase certain products drives up material costs which prevents small business owners from investing in capital improvements and increased
employer wages and benefits,” he told lawmakers during a hearing in January.
“Additionally, regulatory compliance is costly and burdensome. Having a patchwork regulatory framework throughout Kansas most certainly complicates regulatory
compliance for small businesses,” he said.
