HB 27-10: Cleaning Up Plastic Act (Failed)

[Joseph Cao]

AN ACT
Cleaning Up Plastic Act

Be it enacted in both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Name
I. This bill may be referred to as the "Cleaning Up Plastic Act."

Section 2: Environmental Subsidy and Fines
I. The federal government shall give a bloc grant of 500 million dollars to the states and regions for the clean up of bags and straws currently within our environment.
   Ia. The Department of Labor shall dole out the money to the states.
   Ib. Use of the money will be directed towards hiring people to pick up the bags and straws.
   Ic. and the use of Boats and ships to clean up oceanic plastic.
   Id. and Dispose of them in an environmentally respectable way.
II. The government of Atlasia shall direct the Environmental Protection Agency to fine any company dumping plastic bags or straws no less then $10,000 dollars per instance.

Section 3: Enactment
I. This bill shall become law upon the President's signature.

Sponsor: Jessica
House Designation: HB 27-10

72 hours to debate.

[Rep Jessica]

Mr.Speaker

I feel the best way to handle plastic bags and straws is to clean it up ourselves  as we can provide jobs to our citizens to do this and this will help create tens of thousands of jobs for our people that are poor and homeless.

Banning plastic is a bad idea as it limits consumer freedom and liberty. No, the answer is to fine people for throwing stuff on the ground and to work to clean up what is already in the environment. A proactive approach to a clean and healthy environment.

[Rep Jessica]

You'd think all the pro-environment leftist labor members would be supporting this bill. This does something real and doesn't take away peoples freedoms. This bill gives jobs to the millions of homeless that are begging for work and helps our environment while doing so.

[Rep Jessica]

Amendment to make it yearly.

AN ACT
Cleaning Up Plastic Act

Be it enacted in both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Name
I. This bill may be referred to as the "Cleaning Up Plastic Act."

Section 2: Environmental Subsidy and Fines
I. The federal government shall give a bloc grant of 500 250 million dollars per year to the states and regions for the clean up of bags and straws currently within our environment.
   Ia. The Department of Labor shall dole out the money to the states.
   Ib. Use of the money will be directed towards hiring people to pick up the bags and straws.
   Ic. and the use of Boats and ships to clean up oceanic plastic.
   Id. and Dispose of them in an environmentally respectable way.
II. The government of Atlasia shall direct the Environmental Protection Agency to fine any company dumping plastic bags or straws no less then $10,000 dollars per instance.


Section 3: Enactment
I. This bill shall become law upon the President's signature.

[Joseph Cao]

Justification for making this an annual payout? $500 million per year stacks up fairly quickly.

Oh, and while we’re at it, why $500 million?

[SevenEleven]

Hmm, I could maybe support this. It does seem like an awful lot of money though.

[Rep Jessica]

Justification for making this an annual payout? $500 million per year stacks up fairly quickly.

Oh, and while we’re at it, why $500 million?

I believe that making it annual would allow for the people being hired to make this their careers and would help the economy. Picking up bags and straws is a full time job I believe.

I'll  lower the 500 million to 250. But some of this money is to rent ships, boats and equipment to lean up our rivers and ocean.

[SevenEleven]

Justification for making this an annual payout? $500 million per year stacks up fairly quickly.

Oh, and while we’re at it, why $500 million?

I believe that making it annual would allow for the people being hired to make this their careers and would help the economy. Picking up bags and straws is a full time job I believe.

I'll  lower the 500 million to 250. But some of this money is to rent ships, boats and equipment to lean up our rivers and ocean.

Can't we get better productivity by eliminating sources? This will help keep costs down.

[Joseph Cao]

There is a case to be made for both options here. Obviously a cleanup of some sort is needed for existing plastic, which has to be dealt with somehow – but in the long run, it would naturally be easier to focus on reforming the source of the pollution. If this is planned out over multiple years, I think we could consider allocating a gradually larger proportion of funds towards fixing the source of plastic and other forms of pollution until enough has been allocated, with the rest going to Jessica's proposal.

[OBD]

Generally concur with Cao. We have an existing pollution crisis that needs to be addressed, but it certainly would be a boon to eliminate the source of further pollution as well. Not sure where regional statue is at on the latter issue but this bill looks fine for now assuming the funding isn't too outrageous.

[SevenEleven]

I'll need some time to write up a proper amendment here.

[Saint Milei]

Is there any study (I'll even accept a left-winged study) that deals with the environmental impact of plastic?

[SevenEleven]

I actually have struggled to come up with anything good here. So I motion for a final vote.

[SevenEleven]

AN ACT
Cleaning Up Plastic Act

Be it enacted in both Houses of Congress Assembled,

Section 1: Name
I. This bill may be referred to as the "Cleaning Up Plastic Act."

Section 2: Environmental Subsidy and Fines
I. The federal government shall give a bloc grant of 500 million dollars to the states and regions for the clean up of bags and straws currently within our environment.
   Ia. The Department of Labor shall dole out the money to the states.
   Ib. Use of the money will be directed towards hiring people to pick up the bags and straws.
   Ic. and the use of Boats and ships to clean up oceanic plastic.
   Id. and Dispose of them in an environmentally respectable way.
II. The government of Atlasia shall direct the Environmental Protection Agency to fine any company dumping plastic bags or straws no less then $10,000 dollars per instance.

Section 3: Enactment
I. This bill shall become law upon the President's signature.

A final vote is now open.

[Left Wing]

Nay

[OBD]

Nay. I'd rather address this at the source.

[SevenEleven]

Nay.

[Poirot]

aye
plastic is bad for environment

[Joseph Cao]

Aye. I think we can pass this as an interim measure, since my sense is that there's more of an appetite for fixing this at the source and a bill addressing that will obviously take some additional time to write.

[Rep Jessica]

Aye

[P. Clodius Pulcher did nothing wrong]

Nay

[Rep Jessica]

I will fight to defeat any bill that bans plastics. It is a damn shame that the left would rather ban consumer freedom then create jobs and clean up the environment.

[SevenEleven]

By a vote of 3-4-0-2, this bill fails to pass.