Proposed plastic straw ban entangled in council procedures
A crash-course on the anatomy of a city ordinance, using that straw ban proposal, might help viewers understand why confusion set in over the past few days.
Some of the confusion stems from what appeared to be conflicting votes by the Santa Barbara City Council and hearing a “jail” reference tossed in, thanks to national media.
Despite national uproar, there is no plastic straw ban in Santa Barbara — at least, not yet. City officials confirmed, if and when there is, the prospect of jail time is like hoping a spitball will stick to the sky — not going to happen.
“Jail time is not an option,” said Councilmember Kristen Sneddon. “Straws will be given to people who need one and afforded to anyone with a disability.”
Meanwhile, consider this the CliffNotes version of an item before the city council: There are two steps to approving a new city law and they generally come in the form of two readings; one is an introduction, the second is adoption.
“Council has two opportunities at introduction and adoption to review the language, make revisions or also, vote against the proposal, continue the discussion,” said Nina Johnson, Senior Assistant to Santa Barbara City Administrator.
In the case of the ‘proposed straw ban,’ the first reading happened on July 17, 2018, at which time the council “passed” the item, but did not adopt it. The second reading happened one week later, on July 24, 2018.
“At the second reading, the council reviewed the language, had questions and wanted to continue discussing the proposed ordinance,” Johnson said.
At that time, at least one council member opposed the wording and the council decided not to adopt the ordinance at that time but, rather, send it back to the Council Ordinance Committee for continued review.
“(Councilman) Gregg Hart added in plastic stirrers to the ban, not just plastic straws,” Sneddon explained.
In a nutshell, the straw ban remains a potential ordinance, not yet on the books as law. Johnson stressed one key point.
“The current proposal includes language for restaurants to provide plastic straws on request.”
The proposed straw ban is now slated to go before the Council Ordinance Committee, not the full city council, sometime in September. Johnson said that will likely happen after the Labor Day holiday. At that time, the committee could either approve or change the current proposal or, reject it completely.
