LEGAL QUESTION...

[Whirlaway]

City of Dallas reversed it's plastic bag ban because of lawsuits from the plastic bag industry.....

How can other cities (Austin) get away with bans and not face litigation but Dallas caves?


BTW, i opposed the tax.....tax plastic water bottles (refundable deposits), they are more of a nuisance.

[timpage]

Originally Posted by Whirlaway

City of Dallas reversed it's plastic bag ban because of lawsuits from the plastic bag industry.....

How can other cities (Austin) get away with bans and not face litigation but Dallas caves?


BTW, i opposed the tax.....tax plastic water bottles (refundable deposits), they are more of a nuisance.

Not sure that it's correct that the bag tax was reversed because of lawsuits. I think it has more to do with retailers being unhappy about it and the big-business friendly Dallas City Council being responsive to those sentiments. The folks in Austin will care more about the environment than what Target and Wal-Mart want.....

That said, I think the lawsuits are meritorious and if and when one of those cases gets tried and goes up on appeal, that the tax on the bags will be declared a violation of existing state law. Gov. Abbott is on the record as saying he thinks the bans may violate state law back when he was AG....that isn't the last word on it but I think he is correct.

My opinion and $2 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks.

[Whirlaway]

Dallas Morning News:

Facing lawsuit, 10 of 15 Dallas council members ready to ditch grocery bag fee.........

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallas...-bag-fee.html/

[timpage]

Originally Posted by Whirlaway

Dallas Morning News:

Facing lawsuit, 10 of 15 Dallas council members ready to ditch grocery bag fee.........

http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallas...-bag-fee.html/

Right. But, the city of Austin is facing a lawsuit as well and they haven't repealed their bag tax. I'm not saying the lawsuit didn't play into it but I think the city council was being responsive more to the unhappiness of retailers (and the citizens of Dallas, the majority of whom were unhappy with the bag tax, not surprisingly) than they were worried about the lawsuit.

You asked why Austin isn't in the same boat as Dallas.....the answer is because of the differences in political make-up in city government.

[Whirlaway]

Ok....so maybe Dallas is taking the best approach = let Austin fight the legal battle and see how it plays out.............

The plastic bottle trash is more of a problem and could be easily solved with a refundable deposit.....the homeless will pick up bottle trash for deposit change.

After the dallas floods the plastic bottle litter was everywhere in sight.

Originally Posted by timpage

Right. But, the city of Austin is facing a lawsuit as well and they haven't repealed their bag tax. I'm not saying the lawsuit didn't play into it but I think the city council was being responsive more to the unhappiness of retailers (and the citizens of Dallas, the majority of whom were unhappy with the bag tax, not surprisingly) than they were worried about the lawsuit.

You asked why Austin isn't in the same boat as Dallas.....the answer is because of the differences in political make-up in city government.

[timpage]

Even if Austin wins that fight, the bag tax is never coming back to Dallas.

[cptjohnstone]

I have pity for all the problems in Dallas, you should live in my small town

1. All limbs have to be shorter than 4 feet and tied off
2. Plastic bags used only for vegetation
3. No glass containers, they have a trial program that you can put 4 1/2 gallon containers in a plastic container, that is 2 weeks of Dewars for me
4 No bulk trash

I grow up here, lived in Richardson, Dallas and Garland and never have seen rules like this but at lass I will be back in the Dallas area within a year, my mother passed, I am thinking of the Cedar Creek Lake area

[wellendowed1911]

Originally Posted by Whirlaway

City of Dallas reversed it's plastic bag ban because of lawsuits from the plastic bag industry.....

How can other cities (Austin) get away with bans and not face litigation but Dallas caves?


BTW, i opposed the tax.....tax plastic water bottles (refundable deposits), they are more of a nuisance.

just out of curiosity I remember NY and probably other states would have a 5 cents refund on each aluminum can- this was back in the mid 80's- you would have young kids who would go around collecting and recycling massive amounts of aluminum cans- of course a nickel went a little further back in those days than it does now- but I like the idea.

[CuteOldGuy]

We could solve a lot of problems by making biodegradable plastic containers from commercial hemp.

[Seedy]

Now this is a good thread.