On May 19, John V. Santore, one of Sen. Felder’s constituents, sent an email to Sen. Felder’s staff asking the following question:
“Is Sen. Felder involved in any way with the New York State Plastic Bag Task Force, and if so, what is his involvement with the group? Does he have any comment on the Task Force’s work so far?”
A response has yet to be received. This page will be updated if that changes.
Felder was a leader of the Senate’s effort to overturn the city’s new fee on non-reusable plastic and paper bags, passed in 2016. Felder authored legislation outlawing the fee that passed the Senate in 2017. Felder has written about his efforts to stop the bag fee extensively on his blog. For example, as he wrote in a Feb. 8 post:
Sen. Felder has been battling the “bag tax” ever since 2008, when the then-city councilman confronted Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s budget chief at a hearing. Taking out of his pocket a prop of three plastic bags, Felder theatrically aired them out and placed them on his desk, questioning if there was a difference in the 5-cent tax charged for a small bag or a much larger one.The bag tax failed.
Mr. Felder is now in the state Senate, but his flair for visualizing his political positions has not waned.
Withdrawing a bag of bread and a carton of a dozen eggs from under his desk last week, he quizzed a new mayor citing the environment to nickel New Yorkers for a pound of plastic. Is Mayor Bill de Blasio aware of grocery prices today that he was willing to add more expenses to residents, he asked?
“Government’s job is to protect people, not make their lives harder,” Mr. Felder declared. “Our efforts should be geared towards making it easier for New Yorkers to keep more of their hard-earned money, not nickel and diming them every time they turn around.”
After signing Felder’s legislation into law on Feb. 14, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the creation of “a statewide task force to develop a uniform State plan for addressing the plastic bag problem.” Cuomo said the group would produce an alternative legislative proposal by the end of 2017.
As of 5.24, Felder’s blog had yet to mention the task force.
– Posted by John V. Santore
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