The Montgomery County Council is considering legislation (Bill 24-24) to improve Montgomery County’s policies to reduce litter from carryout bags. Since 2012, Montgomery County has required retailers to charge 5 cents for a plastic or paper bag. But that still puts plastic into our environment: made from fossil fuels, littering our waterways, and persisting for a thousand years. The new Bring Your Own Bag bill will ban plastic carryout bags entirely, and increase the charge on paper bags to 10 cents to fund County environmental programs. The County Council needs to hear from you that you support this bill – and especially an important provision in it to make sure it is equitable!
As drafted, the bill includes an important provision exempting SNAP and WIC transactions from the fee on paper bags, and we want to keep it that way. Across Maryland, we’ve been working with partners like Maryland Hunger Solutions to uplift this as an important environmental justice measure. The SNAP/WIC exemption makes certain that the paper bag fees do not disproportionately burden low-income families. Without this exemption, families using SNAP and WIC—who cannot use these benefits to pay bag fees—would face increased grocery costs, worsening food insecurity.
Why is this important?
- Bag fees act as a regressive tax on low-income families who rely on SNAP and WIC benefits, increasing financial strain disproportionately.
- Federal rules prohibit using SNAP/WIC funds to pay for bag fees, meaning families who forget reusable bags could be unable to carry their groceries home at all, unlike other customers who can access paper bags easily with a small fee.
- Other states, like California, New York, and Washington, already have bag fee policies with SNAP/WIC exemptions, proving that this is a fair and effective policy.
- Montgomery County has the chance to lead Maryland on equitable bag policies by ensuring that sustainability efforts do not disproportionately burden vulnerable residents.
Contact your County Council members and tell them you support the Bring Your Own Bag bill and the SNAP/WIC exemption within it! Let them know that environmental policies should support, not penalize, low-income communities.