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                                                                                                 U.S. NEWS Friday 21 September 2018
            California


            makes


            people ask

            for straws,


            sodas with

            kid meals




            By SOPHIA BOLLAG
             Associated Press
            SACRAMENTO,  Calif.  (AP)
            —  If  you  want  a  straw
            with  your  drink  or  a  soda
            with your child's meal at a
            California restaurant, you'll
            need to ask for them start-
            ing next year.
            A  law  signed  Thursday  by
            Gov.  Jerry  Brown  makes
            California  the  first  state  to
            bar  full-service  restaurants
            from  automatically  giv-
            ing  out  single-use  plastic
            straws. Another law he ap-
            proved requires milk or wa-
            ter to be the default drink
            sold with kids' meals at fast-
            food  and  full-service  res-
            taurants.
            Neither  law  is  an  outright
            ban  on  straws  or  sugary
            drinks  in  kids'  meals.  But
            some  Republicans  have
            called  the  measures  gov-
            ernment overreach by the
            heavily Democratic state.
            California  restaurants  that
            don't comply with the new
            straw law will get two warn-
            ings before being fined up
            to $300 per year. It will ap-
            ply  only  to  full-service  res-
            taurants,  not  fast-food  es-
            tablishments.
            Democratic      lawmakers
            who support the policy call
            it  a  small  step  toward  re-
            ducing ocean pollution.
            Brown, who has made en-
            vironmental  issues  a  sig-
            nature  priority,  pointed  to
            the large amount of plastic
            dumped  in  oceans  every
            year  that  can  kill  whales
            and fish and contaminate
            people's  food  and  water
            supplies.
            "Plastic  has  helped  ad-
            vance  innovation  in  our
            society,  but  our  infatua-
            tion  with  single-use  con-
            venience  has  led  to  di-
            sastrous   consequences,"
            Brown said in a statement.
            "Plastics,  in  all  forms  —
            straws, bottles, packaging,
            bags,  etc.  —  are  choking
            the planet."q
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