The last straw: Bad ideas in California
EDITORIAL
February 01. 2018 6:10PM
With the largest state legislature, New Hampshire lawmakers seem to receive more than their share of attention when they do something stupid.
We’re happy to highlight a truly ridiculous idea from another state.
In Sacramento, Calif., Democratic Assemblyman Ian Calderon has introduced a bill banning restaurants from bringing diners plastic straws, unless a straw is requested.
Calderon says he never intended to threaten waiters with six months in jail and a $1,000 fine for bringing an unsolicited straw. He wanted to draw attention to the unnecessary plastic being thrown away.
Reason Magazine tracked down a suspicious claim that Americans throw away 500 million plastic straws per day, and found it was based on a 2011 survey conducted by a 9-year-old boy.
Busybodies like Calderon think they know better than you how you should live your life. You can’t even be trusted to decide how to sip your iced coffee without a nudge from Big Brother.
It is not the place of state legislators to send messages through bad legislation. If Calderon wants to issue a news release about the scourge of plastic straws, let him do so without wasting the resources of the California Assembly.
As a matter of state pride, it is nice that someone came up with an idea worse than taxing canoes or banning Russian vodka from liquor stores.
