Rep. Susan Lontine abandoned an effort Monday to limit the use of plastic straws in the face of opposition from environmental activists and advocates of local control.
House Bill 1143 would have required that certain restaurants only offer plastic straws upon request; drive-thru restaurants would have been exempted from the requirement. Lontine, a Democrat from Lakewood, advocated for the bill as a simple step to limit so-called single-use plastic, or plastics that are used once before being thrown away or recycled. The bill was backed by the Colorado Restaurant Association and the McDonalds Corp., according to Colorado Secretary of State records.
But Republican lawmakers, environmental activists and Front Range communities were all dissatisfied with the bill and claimed that it either went too far or not far enough. Lontine’s bill would have imposed a state standard for plastic straws but would have also prevented local cities from regulating straw use themselves. Representatives from the city of Boulder, for instance, objected to the HB 1143 because it would prohibit the city from banning plastic straws. Boulder was backed by environmental activists who said Lontine’s bill would be difficult to enforce.
Ultimately, it was a battle over local control that doomed the bill. Rep. Lori Saine, R-Dacono, proposed an amendment that would have given municipalities the right to opt out of HB 1143. The amendment passed and Lontine asked to have the bill postponed indefinitely.
rhandy@durangoherald.com
