SB 588 also prohibits local bans on selling sunscreens that harm coral reefs.

A bill putting a five-year moratorium on local laws that ban plastic straws while state officials study the issue cleared a Senate committee Monday on a party line vote.

The bill, SB 588, also prohibits local bans on selling sunscreens that harm coral reefs.

Sponsor Travis Hutson, R-St. Augustine, said he appreciates the environmental problems posed by plastic straws but is “just not a fan of government on the state or local level telling a business what to do” and believes more can be done to get businesses to voluntarily cut back on single-use plastics.

Hutson’s bill originally said that businesses may only distribute plastic straws if customers ask for them.

An array of environmental groups are pushing for bans on plastic straws.

“At this point we don’t need a study. We need action,” said Holly Parker Curry with the Surfrider Foundation.

Curry and other environmental advocates repeated a frequently-cited statistic among those concerned about plastic pollution: By 2050 there is expected to be more plastic than fish in the sea by weight, according to the World Economic Forum.

Sierra Club representative Deborah Foote told the committee that 31 percent of turtles and 71 percent of sea birds are found with plastic straws in their stomachs, and that straws are the seventh most common type of beach trash.

In Gainesville, city commissioners have already moved forward with a plastic bag and Styrofoam ban that will go into effect Aug. 1. The City Commission will soon look vote on a citywide ordinance that enforces a “straw by request” rule.

The change is modeled after a St. Petersburg ordinance.

Commissioner Harvey Ward said he would like to beat the Legislature to the punch by enforcing the rule before the Legislature votes.

“We’re aware of the bills that are out there, and I would like to take action before those go into effect,” Ward said.

The ordinance has been community driven, like the city’s plastic bag ban, and several businesses have already started their own request-only policy.

One supporter of SB 588, state Sen. Joe Gruters, R-Sarasota, said he was swayed by testimony from Sarasota resident Olivia Babis, a Democrat who ran against him in November and who is opposed to plastic straw bans because many disabled individuals rely on straws.

Babis was born without arms and drinks from straws. She said paper straws degrade too quickly when used with hot liquids. Babis said she understands the environmental concerns that are driving the straw bans, but she believes environmental advocates need to find a balance with the disability community.

“It would be nice to find some compromise,” she said.

Babis and other advocates for the disabled have united with business groups such as the Florida Retail Federation and Associated Industries of Florida to oppose the bans, with business leaders concerned about the economic impacts.

“We’re here on a vary basic business level,” said Florida Retail Federation lobbyist Grace Lovett.

Businesses are confronted with a “patchwork of local ordinances,” Lovett said.

“We are in favor of this pause button, let’s do some real Florida research."

A number of Florida communities, including the cities of Gainesville, St. Petersburg, Sanibel, Fort Myers, Hollywood, Surfside, Coral Gables and Miami Beach have adopted ordinances restricting single-use plastic straws and polystyrene.

Under Hutson's legislation, a local government would be fined $25,000 for enforcing a straw ban and would have to pay the attorneys fees of any entity that prevailed in a civil lawsuit seeking to enforce the state preemption.

Hutson’s bill also addressed another issue that cities have begun to tackle: Sunscreens with chemicals that harm coral reefs.

The city of Key West voted in January to ban the sale of sunscreens that contain oxybenzone and octinoxate. Hutson’s bill would prohibit communities from regulating "over-the-counter proprietary drugs and cosmetics."