Recently, the political left has become obsessed with banning plastic straws, with cities along the west coast enacting bans on single-use plastic utensils.
In the case of Santa Barbara’s ban, distributing plastic straws now carries a penalty of jail time.
Austin often looks to these west coast cities as a template for future policy so Texas Scorecard called Austin City Councilman Greg Casar’s office and asked if the councilman would support a plastic straw ban.
First elected in 2014, Casar is a card-carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, a group known for its far-left policy prescriptions such as abolishing all profits and borders.
During our call, we learned the councilman resolutely supports efforts to ban plastic straws in the City of Austin. Casar’s office said they do not have a timeline yet for when he might propose such an ordinance.
If Casar and the city council were to attempt a plastic straw ban, chances are it would immediately be ruled unconstitutional under the same principles that rendered plastic bag bans across the state null and void.
A petition to ban plastic straws in Austin is already circulating online and has accumulated hundreds of signatures.
Concerned taxpayers can contact Casar’s office with the information listed here and demand the city council not waste its time on frivolous, anti-liberty, and unconstitutional ordinances like this, and instead address Austin’s oppressive property taxes and rampant homelessness.
