After banning shopping bags, NJ eyes new plastic restriction with $2,500 fine

☑️ A bill would ban restaurants from automatically giving out single-use utensils

☑️ The proposal would affect restaurants, food trucks, hospitals, schools & arenas

☑️ GOP state Sen. Declan O'Scanlan says the fines are too high

TRENTON — A bill that would prohibit restaurants from providing single-use utensils and condiments unless requested by a customer took a step closer to a vote by the full Legislature after being approved by a Senate committee.

The bill, if approved, would take effect a year after it is signed into law. In its current form, it applies to restaurants with a seating capacity of 10 or more, which would also be required to have reusable, washable utensils for customers who eat in. Food trucks, convenience stores, hospitals,  schools, and entertainment and sports venues are all covered by the bill.

Online platforms would not have to default to "no utensils or condiments." Pre-packaged bundles of utensils would not be permitted. The fine for a first offense would be $1,000 and $2,500 for a second.

The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee approved the bill by an 8-3 vote on Tuesday. The no votes on the bill came from the Republicans on the committee, including state Sen. Declan O'Scanlon, R-Monmouth, who thinks the fines are way too high and will crush small, family-owned restaurants.

"We're talking about food operations where things get crazy, and these people are used to hiring young people that don't go through extensive training. They're taking different calls, they're packing different orders, and things move quickly," O'Scanlon said. "It doesn't take more than a couple of accidental oversights and it's huge money for them."

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The Monmouth County Republican said that environmentalists should focus their efforts on municipalities that can already create their own plastic utensil restrictions. O'Scanlon is also concerned about the requirement that customers have to specifically ask, although there's nothing in the bill that stops a restaurant from posting a sign.

"You got construction workers in the field, they order their fried rice and their soup, and they drive away with it, not knowing there are no utensils. They're gonna get to the job set, open their lunch and eat with their hands? They'll throw it out probably. It's more Trenton overreach," O'Scanlon said.

O'Scanlon is not confident the bill's sponsors would consider a reduction in the fine. He also said that environmentalists should focus their efforts on cities and towns that can already create restrictions like this on their own.

At least one Democrat shares O'Scanlon's concern about the fines. Senate Majority Leader Teresa Ruiz, D-Essex, told NJ.com she abstained from voting because she believes that the costs of the measure would be passed onto consumers. But O'Scanlon is not hopeful there will be any changes to the bill.

"Once they start moving a bill, they tend to be very close-minded to even the best ideas that could help improve the bill. So I have doubts that sanity will prevail in Trenton. So far in my entire career, doubts about sanity prevailing have been wise ones," O'Scanlon said.

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