Santa Barbara approves jail time for straw ban violators

This July 17, 2018 photo shows wrapped plastic straws at a bubble tea cafe in San Francisco. Click through the gallery for a roundup of odd California laws. This July 17, 2018 photo shows wrapped plastic straws at a bubble tea cafe in San Francisco. Click through the gallery for a roundup of odd California laws. Photo: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press Photo: Jeff Chiu / Associated Press Image 1 of / 22 Caption Close Santa Barbara approves jail time for straw ban violators 1 / 22 Back to Gallery

As bans on plastic straws are cropping up in municipalities up and down the West Coast, Santa Barbara has escalated things with a ban that includes the possibility of jail time for repeat plastic straw-distributing offenders.

The Santa Barbara ordinance makes it illegal for businesses to hand out plastic straws, and they're also forbidden from handing out plastic cutlery without first confirming the customer wants it.

Providers can apply for exemption from the ban if it would cause "undue hardship" or if they need to provide straws because of a "medical necessity," although it does not appear to include an automatic exemption for disabled people, as Seattle's ban does.

The ordinance bans "compostable and biodegradable" plastic straws but not those made of other materials, like "paper, sugar cane, bamboo, etc."

Feel like straws might be useful to MacGyver your way out of some kind of apocalypse scenario? Not to worry — the Santa Barbara ban would also be suspended if the city were to declare a state of emergency, according to the ordinance.

STRAW POLL: Plastic straw ban could mean trouble for boba shops

Seattle became the first major city in the US to enact a plastic straw ban earlier this year. San Luis Obispo, Malibu, Santa Cruz and San Francisco also have versions of a plastic straw ban on the books. Companies like Starbucks, Ikea and Marriott have also jumped in and committed to voluntarily phasing out the straws.

So the Santa Barbara ban isn't the first of its kind, but the penalties it allows do seem harsh. The first violation comes with a warning. But what about repeat offenders — what's the last straw? It turns out it's pretty expensive.

Each individual straw distributed reportedly counts as a separate violation, and a second violation can trigger fines from $100 up to $1,000, and six months in jail. Assistant City Attorney Scott Vincent told Reason that in practice, jail time would only be considered for repeat offenders under especially egregious circumstances.

The momentum behind straw bans grows even as they have drawn criticism from disability rights advocates. They say widespread access to plastic straws is important so people with certain mobility issues can eat and drink; Reusable metal straws don't work as a substitute because they aren't flexible.

Others pointed out one of the most widely-cited statistics on straw usage in the United States (that Americans use 500 million plastic straws a day) comes from a phone survey conducted by a 9-year-old child.

That being said, hundreds of thousands of straws are found littering coastlines around the world each year, according to nonprofits like the Ocean Conservancy, and environmentalists have cheered the rising popularity of plastics bans.

SFGATE has reached out to Vincent for more details on potential punishments associated with the straw ban and will update when we hear back.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter