Rep. Drew Springer, R-Muenster files the “Shopping Bag Freedom Act”

This is my fourth government blog assignment.  We must critique a Texas blog.  This one caught my attention because it’s in regards to our most recent ban against plastic bags.  Come on, really?  Is this some kind of a joke.   This article is going to make my assignment easy and short, because it is short and weak with little information.

This article was created by Claire Cordona with the Dallas Morning News on March 6, 2013.

It begins by saying, “Austin- If you’ve forgotten your reusable grocery bag or frustrated with the new law, one legislator is on your side.”   Really, did she have to use the word frustrated?

The article says that just a few days after the bag ban went into effect on March 1, Rep. Drew Springer R-Muenster, filed the “Shopping Bag Freedom Act” that would overturn the ordinance, which was passed by the Austin City Council in March 2012.

“This act is just the latest example of government elites trying to step between the business and consumer in an attempt to push forward a misguided nanny-state agenda,” Springer said.

Then it goes to saying that people will forget to wash their reusable bags, which “puts uninformed populations at risk of serious illness and even death.  Even if bag hygiene was realistic, why mandate people to waste more water on laundry in a time of severe drought in the region and state?”

Springer said the bag ban puts cities on the path to mandate other things, like how much salt someone can put in their food.  If Springer did say this, why did Claire not use quotation marks? Do people really believe that someday the city will mandate how much salt we put in our food? I don’t think so.

The article is so small I just about put everything it said in my blog, except for a few things that I chose to leave out.  This article was pretty dull.  Claire did not put any kind of data to back up any of her research in regards to the ban on plastic bags.  Okay, it is bad for the environment, what else?  She also says that these reusable bags are dangerous if not washed before using them again. So they need to explain to us in what way these bags are dangerous.

I am for the plastic bag ban.  I was always getting mad about the bags tearing by the time I made it home anyway.  If this is going to help the environment, I am all for it.  The only concern I have is getting better educated on how we can avoid getting ill if we do not wash our reusable bags properly.