A 5-cent bag tax for Prince George’s County failed to pass a Maryland General Assembly committee on Wednesday, just one day after it received overwhelming support from the County Council.
The bill would have enabled the council to set the terms of a bag tax for Prince George’s. A similar tax is already in effect in the District, and Montgomery County implemented its own 5-cent bag tax in January.
But the bill fell one vote short on a 3-2 vote by the Prince George’s County House delegation’s county affairs committee, the Washington Post reported.
Prince George’s County Dels. Jolene Ivey, Justin Ross, and Barbara Frush – who co-sponsored the legislation with state Sen. Paul Pinsky – voted for the bill. Dels. Carolyn Howard and James Proctor voted against it.
Del. Veronica Turner was absent from the meeting.
The bill could be revived, Pinsky told the Post. Bag tax legislation could come back to the committee for a vote, or be brought before the full Prince George’s House delegation.
The council voted 8-0 in support of the legislation Tuesday, pushed by Councilwoman Mary Lehman, D-Laurel. Lehman said after the vote the bill faced a tough crowd in Annapolis, and that if it passed, it would only be by the slimmest margin.
The bag tax was one of County Executive Rushern Baker’s top environmental priorities, spokesman Scott Peterson said.
