SACRAMENTO, Calif. (KGTV) -- A bill which prevents dine-in and full-service restaurants from giving customers plastic straws unless requested passed the state Senate Monday.
In a final vote of 25 to 15, the California Senate passed the single-use plastic straws bill, also known as AB 1884.
According to environmental groups, people throw away as many as 175 million plastic straws in the United States, many of which end up in the ocean and can harm marine life.
RELATED: California bill would make it illegal for servers to hand out plastic straws unless asked
“Nothing we use for a few minutes should be allowed to pollute our rivers and oceans for hundreds of years—especially when we don’t really need it,” said Dan Jacobson, state director of Environment California.
According to the text of the bill, businesses will be warned twice before being fined $25 per day they are in violation up to $300.
The bill now heads back to the Assembly for a concurrence vote before heading to Governor Jerry Brown’s office.
