Albany lawmakers might not move quickly when it comes to ethics reforms, affordable housing and mayoral control of city schools, but they proved Tuesday that when an issue is small and far enough from their usual jurisdiction, they can still spring into action.
The state Senate voted to forbid the city's new effort to reduce plastic waste, a 5-cent fee for disposable shopping bags.
Brooklyn Sen. Simcha Felder, a Democrat who caucuses with the Republicans, said the bag fee amounts to a tax, even though it would be kept by retailers. His bill, approved 36-22, prohibited "any tax, fee or local charge" on carryout bags of any kind in the state. The measure would still need to pass the Assembly—a possibility that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has not ruled out—and be signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to become law.
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