Texas Supreme Court Rules Cities Can't Ban Plastic Bags

AUSTIN, TX — The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ruled in favor of businesses over environmentalists saying cities such as Austin cannot ban retailers from providing disposable plastic bags for customers at checkout counters.

In a unanimous ruling, the state’s highest civil court said plastic bag bans violate a state law prohibiting cities from trying to reduce waste by banning "packages" and "containers." While acknowledging the vague wording of the law, the court referenced the plain wording allowing for plastic bags.

The decision upholds a previous lower-court ruling that struck down a bag ban in Laredo.

Related story: Attorney General Files Suit Against Bag-Charging Stores

In a subsequent press release, state Attorney General Ken Paxton applauded the court's ruling. He noted the decision upheld last year's ruling by the Texas 4th Court of Appeals that the city of Laredo's ban on single-use plastic bags is illegal. Friday's ruling, Paxton said, effectively invalidates "unlawful bag bans" across Texas.

“I commend the Texas Supreme Court for upholding the principle that no one is exempted from the rule of law," Paxton said in his press advisory. "This ruling sends the unambiguous message to all local jurisdictions in Texas that they do not get to simply ignore laws they don’t agree with. Municipalities violate the law when they unlawfully pass the burden of solid waste management to citizens and retailers through illegal bag bans. I hope that Laredo, Austin, and any other jurisdictions that have enacted illegal bag bans will take note and voluntarily bring their ordinances into compliance with state law. Should they decline to do so, I expect the ruling will be used to invalidate any other illegal bag bans statewide.”

In August 2016, the 4th Court of Appeals rendered a summary judgment in favor of the Laredo Merchants Association, which argued that the city of Laredo’s ban on single-use bags is illegal because it violates state law regulating solid waste disposal, Paxton reminded. Texas’ Health and Safety Code prohibits making a rule to “prohibit, restrict, for solid waste management purposes, the sale or use of a container or package in a manner not authorized by state law," the attorney general added.

With the 1993 law cited by the high court, the state Legislature intended for cities to better manage their solid waste instead of eliminating that waste or just sending it to landfills, Paxton explained. By enacting various bag bans and anti-consumer ordinances, cities ignore the law and shirk their responsibilities as waste managers, he added.

Last year, the city of Kermit repealed its unlawful sales tax on single-use plastic bags rather than face a lawsuit from the attorney general’s office, the AG noted. Moreover, Paxton dismissed a lawsuit against the city of Brownsville after it formally repealed its illegal sales tax on plastic bags, he added.

View a copy of the Texas Supreme Court ruling by clicking here. View copies of the amicus briefs filed by the Texas Attorney General’s Office by clicking here.

>>> Image via Shutterstock