A Burien lawmaker plans to introduce a statewide ban on plastic bags, which would be modeled after Seattle’s recently adopted ban.

Rep. Joe Fitzgibbon is expected to introduce the bill on Thursday, according to advocacy group Environment Washington. The bill follows bans in Seattle, Bellingham, Edmonds and Mukilteo and would make Washington the first state in the country to exile the bags.

Last month, the Seattle City council passed a ban on all disposable, check-out plastic bags in grocery and retail stores, starting July 1. It also imposed a 5-cent fee on paper bags for customers. That fee will reimburse retailers. People on food assistance and other government benefits are exempted from the bag fee.

Seattle’s ban, modeled after Bellingham’s recently passed law, follows Seattle’s failed 20-cent bag fee, which was repealed by voters in 2009.

In California, lawmakers tried to pass a statewide ban last year, but lost after the plastics industry spent millions on lobbying and ads to crush the measure.

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