No. HB 865
Filed under Environment & Water.
Local Regulation of Drinking Straws and Stirrers; Prohibits local governmental entities from enacting any rule, regulation, or ordinance for drinking straws or stirrers which does not meet specified requirements; provides requirements for local governmental entities that elect to enact rules, regulations, or ordinances for drinking straws or stirrers.
Plain English Summary
AI-GENERATEDLocal governments can no longer ban drinking straws or stirrers outright. Any new local rule must instead require straws that are renewable, home compostable, industrially compostable, and marine biodegradable all at once.
By January 1, 2027, any existing city or county ordinance that blocks these certified straws has to be rewritten to allow them, unwinding stricter local bans already on the books.
Straws sold with a prepackaged drink, and any straw used in a hospital, medical facility, or senior care facility, fall outside this rule entirely; local governments can still regulate those however they choose.
The Legislature's stated reason: it says paper straws often contain PFAS chemicals and that patchwork local rules burden businesses and residents with disabilities who need plastic straws.
AIA city or county cannot pass any rule, regulation, or ordinance on the use, sale, or restriction of drinking straws and stirrers unless that rule meets the certification standards this section sets.
AIAny local ordinance already in effect that blocks renewable, home compostable, industrial compostable, or marine biodegradable straws and stirrers must be amended by January 1, 2027 to allow them.
AIIf a local government does choose to regulate drinking straws or stirrers, its rule must require them to be renewable, home compostable certified, industrial compostable certified, and marine biodegradable, all four together.
AIThe whole section, preemption and certification standards alike, does not reach a straw sold with a prepackaged drink or used in a hospital, medical facility, or senior care facility.