Dive Summary:

• Massachusetts could be the first U.S. state to ban plastic bag use at large retail outlets, according to sources. The effort is designed to prevent them from harming marine animals and reducing litter on city streets.
• Rep. Lori Ehrlich, D-Marblehead sponsored one of the bills and says that society's ‘disposable culture’ "seems to be catching up with us” and that 10% of trash and debris which washes up on shore is plastic shopping bags.
•  "Nothing that we use for a few minutes should pollute the oceans for hundreds of years," Ehrlich said. No one from the plastic bag industry testified against the bills. Some plastic biodegradable would be exempt from the law.

From the article:

Hundreds of communities across the country have instituted some type of ban. Mostly recently in Massachusetts, Brookline and Manchester-by-the-Sea approved bans. No state has enacted a statewide ban. However, Hawaii does have a de-facto statewide ban, with all four counties in the state now banning non-biodegradable plastic bags at checkout as well as paper bags that are not at least 40 percent recycled.