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Linda Rizzo of Grant City fills her car with groceries in plastic bags. (Advance file photo)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Unless Gov. Andrew Cuomo steps in to veto the state Legislature's work this week, New York City's five-cent bag fee is dead for at least one year.

The Assembly voted Tuesday to kill the City Council-passed fee, one day after the state Senate passed its bill to do the same.

The bills place a moratorium on the City Council's law that passed last May, charging shoppers 5-cents per paper or plastic bag as a way to reduce waste from the rarely-recycled items.

The fee was slated to go into effect on Feb. 15 after having been pushed back from last October.

The Council vote was a controversial one, passing it with a vote of 28-20, with city lawmakers joining state legislators in attempting to prevent its implementation.

This week's passage prevents any fee from going into place until 2018, when a new City Council takes its seat and may or may not take up the matter again.

Staten Island Assemblyman Michael Cusick led the effort in the Assembly to overturn the city's plans. His colleagues passed the bill 122-15.

Citing his support for environmentally-friendly measures that limit trash and push recycling, he lamented the city's action that called for a fee instead of first considering ways to incentivize people to recycle or use fewer bags.

Brooklyn State Sen. Simcha Felder, a Democrat who caucuses with Republicans, led the fight there, passing his bill on Monday.

What passed this week was the third iteration of the Felder/Cusick bills: the first, sponsored in May, sought to prohibit statewide bag fees.

A second bill addressed New York City only, and finally, the third bill changed the all-out ban to a moratorium until 2018.

Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi would not say whether the governor is expected to sign the bill into law, saying only, "The bill is under review."

Like Cusick, Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, who promised Democrats' support last week, wants to address the environmental issues associated with using the bags.

"We all share the same goal of reducing plastic waste and improving our environment," he said in a statement shortly after the bill passed. "As drafted, there were a number of issues with the local law that made state action necessary. First, it has the potential to negatively impact working poor households and senior citizens disproportionately. It also mandates that stores could charge any amount for carryout bags, starting at five cents. The fee would go directly to store owners and not to targeted environmental programs as mandated in many other programs around the country."

"It makes sense to press the pause button on this fee in order to do a more thorough investigation on the best ways to reduce paper and plastic waste in our environment. Over the coming months we will work with environmental advocates, community groups, the public, and our partners in government to develop a solution that works for everyone."

Original co-sponsors of the council bill, Margaret Chin and Brad Lander, issued a joint statement, saying, "We are disappointed that the Assembly decision to ignore the unified voice of New York's environmental, climate justice and neighborhood groups -- at the very moment the federal government is rolling back environmental protections. We appeal to Gov. Cuomo to help us reach a compromise that would allow New York City to try out this effective, common-sense strategy for dealing with the 10 billion plastic bags that pollute our trees, oceans and landfills every year."