Many Californians are concerned about the water. They should be. There must be something in it there that cause some peculiar thinking and ideas.

One bad idea that they share with many others is that government must fix everything. Even if it’s not broken. For such liberals, there is hardly an aspect of life on this planet that cannot be improved by legislation.

Their attention is once again focused on the environment. The specific concern is plastic waste that hangs around a long time.

Their solution is to pass a law to make it a crime for servers at restaurants to distribute plastic straws unless they are requested. The proposed penalty is a $1,000 fine and prison time. This “anti-straw” legislation sounds like a joke. It isn’t.

Ian Calderon, the Democratic majority leader in California’s lower state house, recently introduced Assembly Bill 1884. If signed into law, the bill would require dine-in restaurant workers not to provide single-use plastic straws to a customer unless the customer asked for them.

A worker who gave out straws that were not requested could be found guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to up to 6 months in jail and as much as a $1,000 fine.

Calderon explains the goal of the legislation.

“We need to create awareness around the issue of one-time use plastic straws and its detrimental effects on our landfills, waterways, and oceans,” Calderon said in a statement.

“AB 1884 is not [a] ban on plastic straws. It is a small step towards curbing our reliance on these convenience products, which will hopefully contribute to a change in consumer attitudes and usage.”

Believe it or not, some California environmental groups do not think the law goes far enough.

The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the bill is short of the ban on plastic straws that some environmental groups want, and would not apply to fast-food or takeout restaurants.

“Really, what’s at stake here is a few moments of convenience creating a yearslong environmental threat,” said David Lewis, executive director of Save the Bay.”

The head of a restaurant association made a remark that should be turned into enormous banners and hung over the entries to every legislative body in the nation.

“Not everything needs to be legislated,’ Borden said. ‘The industry will be more creative and innovative if given the opportunity to come up with a solution.”

“Not everything needs to be legislated.” Terrifying words for liberals.

Creating legislation is the purpose of their lives. If the need for legislation drops, what would they do with their time or for a living?

Ms. Bordon also mentioned something that perhaps the bill’s authors forgot: Who will enforce such a law?  The idea of pulling police off other work to watch for plastic straws being handed out in restaurants is beyond the pale.

After news of this legislation, one is almost afraid to ask the question, “what’s next?”

Source: The Blaze