Santa Fe's proposed green fee, a would-be tax on disposable paper and plastic shopping bags, is changing shape even before being voted on.
After drawing criticism for being potentially harmful to working-class families, the plan was recast Monday simply as an attempt to reduce disposable bag use.
It remains to be determined whether that happens through charging customers for each bag or by using incentives to encourage the use of reusable bags.
The change was applauded by members of the City Council's Public Works Committee, who approved the amendments after hearing ample concerns about the plan in the last several weeks.
"I want to make sure whatever we do has an educational component and is not just punitive," Councilor Patti Bushee said.
The green fee proposal was first unveiled earlier this month by Councilor Chris Calvert, who was described by a colleague Monday as Santa Fe's "green councilor."
Calvert said Monday it's always been his intent that reusable canvas bags would be provided free to the public if the green fee were approved. If such a mass gifting wasn't possible, Calvert said he would withdraw the resolution.
As currently proposed, Calvert's resolution merely calls on city staffers to develop a program to reduce disposable bag use. Once developed, the program would then have to be approved by the City Council.
Another change made to the proposal Monday was removing the word "grocery" from the resolution so that all retailers would presumably be affected.
That made sense to councilors like Bushee, who said Wal-Mart and other "big box" stores seem to produce a large share of the bags that end up in local landfills.
"(That's where) I really see a lot of bags being pushed out the door," she said.
But other members of the Public Works Committee indicated they're not necessarily opposed to using a tax to change the habits of a disposable society— a fact Calvert referred to Monday as an "inconvenient truth."
"I'm really pleased to see something being done instead of nothing," Councilor Rosemary Romero said. "I think this is a great first effort."
According to city numbers, the average person uses between 300 to 600 disposable plastic and paper shopping bags annually.
In response to such figures, other communities have taken action. Seattle city leaders recently threw their support behind a similar plan that would impose a 20-cent-per-bag green fee, and San Francisco prohibited supermarkets from using plastic bags in December.
But Santa Fe's proposal, the first of its kind in New Mexico, was blasted by the director of the state's grocers association as "extreme" and "very excessive."
The grocery bag tax was an idea first touted by the Sustainable Santa Fe Commission, a group of residents brought together to analyze potential conservation measures for the city. During a meeting last week, however, commission members were also the ones who suggested the amendments.
On Monday, both Romero and Bushee claimed they use canvas bags when grocery shopping.
But Calvert, with a hint of sarcasm in his voice, said countless Santa Feans have told him they shop with reusable bags, yet somehow thousands of paper and plastic bags continue to emerge from local supermarkets.
To city Councilor Ronald Trujillo, the public awareness aspect of the grocery bag debate is crucial.
"We need to target the kids," Trujillo said. "The kids will tell their parents."
