STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________

207

2021-2022 Regular Sessions

IN ASSEMBLY

(Prefiled)

January 6, 2021 ___________

Introduced by M. of A. L. ROSENTHAL, LUPARDO, TAYLOR, GLICK, NIOU, GOTT- FRIED, BARRON, J. RIVERA, SEAWRIGHT, SIMON, GALEF, BARRETT, BRONSON, STECK, WEPRIN, FAHY, RAMOS, REYES, EPSTEIN, PAULIN, COLTON -- Multi- Sponsored by -- M. of A. THIELE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Environmental Conservation

AN ACT to amend the environmental conservation law and the general busi- ness law, in relation to prohibitions on single-use plastic straws and stirrers in restaurants

The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows:

1 Section 1. Article 27 of the environmental conservation law is amended 2 by adding a new title 31 to read as follows:

3 TITLE 31 4 PLASTIC STRAW AND STIRRER RESTRICTIONS 5 Section 27-3101. Definitions. 6 27-3103. Single-use plastic straws and stirrers. 7 27-3105. Enforcement. 8 § 27-3101. Definitions. 9 For the purposes of this title, "restaurant" means any diner or other 10 eating or beverage establishment, which offers for sale food or beverag- 11 es to the public, guests, members, or patrons, whether consumption 12 occurs on or off the premises. 13 § 27-3103. Single-use plastic straws and stirrers. 14 1. (a) Restaurants shall only provide single-use plastic straws to 15 customers when explicitly requested by the customer. 16 (b) No inquiry into the reason for the request shall be made by a 17 restaurant or any of its employees in carrying out the request author- 18 ized by paragraph (a) of this subdivision.

EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD00359-02-1

A. 207 2

1 2. Restaurants are prohibited from providing customers with single-use 2 plastic stirrers. 3 3. (a) Nothing in this section shall preclude a restaurant from 4 providing customers with non-plastic straws or stirrers as an alterna- 5 tive to single-use plastic straws and stirrers, including, but not 6 limited to, straws and/or stirrers made from paper, sugar cane, bamboo 7 or compostable materials. 8 (b) Restaurants that provide compostable straws or stirrers to custom- 9 ers are required to have access to curbside collection of food waste for 10 composting. 11 4. Single-use plastic straws provided by a restaurant, pursuant to 12 subdivision one of this section, shall not be individually wrapped in 13 plastic, except for prepackaged individual serving beverages where a 14 plastic straw is included in the packaging. 15 § 27-3105. Enforcement. 16 Every local department of health shall ensure compliance with this 17 title as part of an inspection of a food place pursuant to section thir- 18 teen hundred fifty-one of the public health law, the provisions of the 19 sanitary code and provisions of local ordinances or regulations. Any 20 establishment that violates this title shall be liable for a civil 21 penalty in the amount of two hundred dollars for the first violation, 22 three hundred dollars for the second violation committed on a different 23 day within a period of twelve months, and five hundred dollars for the 24 third and each subsequent violation committed on different days within a 25 period of twelve months, except that the local department of health 26 shall not issue a notice of violation, but shall issue a warning and 27 provide information on compliance with such section, for any violation 28 that occurs within one year of the effective date of this section. 29 § 2. The general business law is amended by adding a new section 399- 30 tt to read as follows: 31 § 399-tt. Single-use plastic straws. Restaurants shall only provide 32 single-use plastic straws to customers where explicitly requested by the 33 customer pursuant to title thirty-one of article twenty-seven of the 34 environmental conservation law. 35 § 3. This act shall take effect on the one hundred twentieth day after 36 it shall have become a law.