WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW
By Senator Rev. Rubén Díaz
District 32 Bronx County, New York
You should know that Assemblyman Luis
Sepúlveda, Senator Marisol Alcantara and I have joined together and submitted a
piece of joint-legislation to help resolve some of the environmental problems
caused by plastic bags.
As you know, the Members of the New York
City Council, under the direct leadership of Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito,
approved legislation to force every consumer, including senior citizens, the
poor, the needy and everyone who shops in the five boroughs of the City of New
York to pay 5-cents (5¢) to the merchant for
each plastic bag they used while shopping.
According to Melissa Mark Viverito and
the Members of the City Council, this 5-cents (5¢) imposition
per plastic bag was done with the purpose of cleaning up the environment, and
doing away with the infestation of plastic bags on New York City streets.
According to their legislation, when the
consumer goes to the supermarket, bodega or other retail establishments, he or
she will be forced to pay 5-cents (5¢) for
each plastic bag they use. Can anyone imagine why this 5-cent (5¢) per bag fee should then be kept by the
storeowner, not the government? This was all done in the name of cleaning the
environment.
As you know, our fight and participation
in support of Senator Simcha Felder’s effort to do away with this injustice
toward the consumer was joined by Republicans in the Senate, and we were
victorious.
And, as I have explained to you in my
earlier columns, of the six Hispanic Senators: Marisol Alcantara, José Serrano,
José Peralta, Martin Malavé Dilan, Gustavo Rivera and myself, only two of us,
José Peralta and I were the only ones who voted against the imposition of the
5-cents (5¢) penalty. The other four voted
in favor of forcing senior citizens, the poor, the needy and every other
consumer in the City of New York to pay 5-cents (5¢)
per plastic bag while shopping.
You should also know that after the New
York Senate voted to stop it, the Speaker of the Assembly, the Honorable Carl
Heastie and the Members of the Assembly did the same and joined with the
Republicans in voting to stop this injustice that was set to go into effect on
February 15, 2107.
And, our beloved Governor Andrew Cuomo
then put the City Council’s legislation in checkmate by signing into law the
Senate and Assembly’s joint legislation to postpone all of this for one year
while studies could be done to find better environmental solutions than having
the consumer pay this 5-cents (5¢) fee.
It is very important for you to know
that without waiting one year, and almost immediately, Assemblyman Luis
Sepúlveda came up with a marvelous idea to introduce another piece of
legislation, which Senator Marisol Alcantara and I joined in sponsoring.
The great idea that Assemblyman
Sepúlveda introduced in the Assembly is to actually help clean up the environment
and take plastic bags off the streets. Instead of forcing consumers to pay
5-cents (5¢) that the storeowners keep per
plastic bag, to pay consumers 3-cents (3¢) for
each plastic bag that they re-use.
If the problem, as explained by Melissa
Mark-Viverito and Members of the New aYork City Council, is to take plastic
bags off the streets and to clean the environment, I don’t see why there
shouldn’t be a way for the consumer to be rewarded with 3-cents (3¢) per bag, if in all honesty, the idea was to clean
the environment.
I imagine there would be no reason why,
with Assemblyman Sepulveda's great idea, that those elected officials who were
in favor of forcing consumers to pay 5-cents (5¢) per
plastic bag to clean the environment would oppose this new proposed
legislation.
I see no reason why any elected
officials would want senior citizens, the poor, the needy, and hardworking New
Yorkers to be forced to pay 5-cents (5¢) per
plastic bag, instead of paying shoppers 3-cents (3¢)
per plastic bag they reuse in order to help clean the environment.
Honorable New York City Council Speaker
Melissa Mark-Viverito and Members of the New York City Council: the ball is in
your court.
I am Senator Reverend
Rubén Díaz, and this is what you should know.
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