Reusable bag distributed by Montgomery County. Image via Nancy Navarro.

This morning, delegates that represent Prince George’s County in the Maryland House of Delegates voted 12 to 9 in support of HB895, which would let let the county enact a 5¢ fee on disposable plastic and paper bags. This was the most significant hurdle, and the bill now has a very high chance of becoming law.

The bill now moves to the Environmental Matters Committee of the House, and then to the floor of the full House. For local bills like this one, those votes are usually a formality, as the current legislature prefers to support the counties’ wishes.

The county’s senators must also support the bill, but it passed easily last session and no senators are known to have changed their position.

Opponents of the bill—the manufacturers of plastic bags—have paid a fortune to lobby agsint the bill, with thousands of robocalls misleading citizens and flooding delegate offices.

The County Affairs subcommittee was unable to get 4 of 6 votes, as required by the Maryland constitution, to either recommend for or against the bill (or even to agree on “no recommendation”), but after 3 such votes it was eligible to move up to the full delegation anyway.

The bill’s supporters withstood the pressure and protected home rule, allowing the Prince George’s County Council to now take up the bag fee this fall. The county council voted 8-0, with one abstention, last month to support this measure. (The abstention was Karen Toles, who has been in the news this week for other reasons.)

The council’s authority to enact a fee will take effect in October. Should the statewide bag fee bill also pass, the council will have 6 months to pass the county’s program in order to be exempt from the statewide system.

The supporting delegates were sponsor Barbara Frush, Ben Barnes, Dereck Davis, Joseline Pena-Melnyk, Doyle Neimann, Michael Summers, James Hubbard, Kris Valder­rama, Anne Healey, Tawanna Gaines, Justin Ross, and Jolene Ivey. Delegate Ivey attended despite being on bereavement leave following the death of her father last week.