A plastic bag near the Manhattan Beach Pier. Cities like Manhattan Beach have been sued by industry groups when they've attempted to institute plastic bag bans. (Credit David McNew/Getty Images)

In the waning days of California's legislative session, as a stampede of bills heads to the checkout counters, a proposed ban on plastic bags captures the attention of the Sacramento Bee today.

First, there's a follow-the-money story, in which we learn the American Chemical Council (i.e. Exxon, Dow) as well as plastic bag manufacturers are suddenly donating cash to California lawmakers. The Council is also pushing a punchy ad on Sacramento airwaves.

About 19 billion plastic bags are distributed free every year in California, and only an estimated 5 - 6% are recycled.

AB 1998 would make California the first state in the nation to ban plastic bags at grocery stores, drugstores and certain convenience stores by 2013. AB 1998 would also impose a fee for the use of paper grocery bags.

The bill is the baby of Assemblywoman Julia Brownley, D-Santa Monica who says "It is about getting rid of single-use bags, changing behavior and utilizing reusable bags."

That's a quote from a companion editorial in the Bee from Dan Morain entitled Bag ban: Nice cause, flimsy idea. It's pretty clear what his opinion is. Among his many arguments, a couple caught my eye:

1. Environmentalists and environmental celebrities all agree plastic bags must be stopped...and that's inherently annoying and off-putting (my interpretation of the subtext). Presumably, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger falls into this category, as he's promised to sign the measure if lawmakers approve it.

2. Morain doesn't buy that plastic bags are "the scourge of wildlife, waterways and landscapes." Even though he's seen an amusing "mockumentary" on YouTube produced by Heal the Bay.

Morain surmises that Safeway, the California Grocers Association, and California Retailers Association are supporting this year's iteration of the ban (Brownley's tried before, repeatedly) because they would get to pocket the fees charged on paper bags.

Here's the Shifting Gears tie-in.

• Command Packaging: Vernon
• Crown Poly: Huntington Park
• Heritage Bag: Rancho Cucamonga
• Inteplast Group: Montebello
• Poly Pak America: Los Angeles
• Roplast Industries: Oroville

All of these firms, by the way, know enough about green PR to get accredited by a program called EPR (Environmentally Preferred Rating) run by the California Film Extruders & Converters Association. Accreditation mainly involves coming clean about what's in the product and the process of making it. EPR encourages companies to use recycled plastic when possible.

Morain complains many reusable bags are manufactured in China, but he doesn't provide a list of California companies that manufacture tote bags. Off the top of my head...

• American Apparel: Los Angeles
• Etsy: Handmade, all over the state
• Timbuk2: San Francisco

Feel free to add to my lists (plastic, reusable - help me start a list for paper) in the comments section.

I guess what I'm getting at here is that AB 1998 - like most California legislation - would gore some oxen and not others.  California manufacturers are on all sides of this particular issue.  So how do California voters feel about companies and interest groups outside the state trying so heavily to influence a debate whose outcome applies only to Californians?  Unless, of course, we launch a trend in the US... Oh right. I forgot we have a habit of doing that...