ALBANY — State lawmakers within days plan to vote on a bill that would postpone the city’s 5-cent plastic-bag fee for a year.
The fee, passed last year by the City Council and signed by Mayor de Blasio, is scheduled to take effect on Feb. 15, but the Senate and Assembly agreed to pass a moratorium by Tuesday to keep it from taking effect for at least 12 months.
Brooklyn Sen. Simcha Felder said he is planning to sponsor a bill to block the fee on shoppers.
The council passed the fee in an effort to reduce the tons of plastic going into the city’s waste stream.
But critics noted that the collected fees are slated to go to grocers and not pro-environmental efforts.
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie and others argue that the fee is a burdensome “tax” on families, the elderly and others struggling to make ends meet.
The bill to stop the fee — and the first to get support from both houses of the Legislature — will also require the council to vote again to impose the fee before it could go into effect, a year from now at the earliest.
A spokesman for Gov. Cuomo would not say if the governor would support the legislation to halt the fee.
“Now we’re getting down the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs and something needs to happen,” said Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
“Hopefully, Gov. Cuomo will sign the Assembly’s legislation to stop the madness.’’
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