Santa Barbara approves jail time for straw ban violators - Sensationalist Headlines

https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/straw-ban-santa-barbara-plastic-law-jail-fines-13105042.php Other sources https://www.newsweek.com/plastic-straw-ban-you-can-be-sent-jail-breaking-new-law-california-city-1043944 http://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch/398965-people-who-violate-plastic-straw-ban-could-face-jail-time-in-california

A: "what are you in here for?" B: "I murdered my family" A: "What about you?" C: "I raped a child infront of a school" A: "And you?" D: "Sale of marijuana, what about you?" A: "I gave people plastic straws" B, C and D laugh and all say "No but really, why are you here?"

Plastic straws now have a harsher punishment than possession of illegal drugs. What a state this is. I'd like to know what world these people live in.

Ah, I see California has no problem with overflowing prisons and people put away for hardly anything, like the rest of the country does, because otherwise they wouldn't do this! Right! Right...??

Contamination? That was the last straw.

Gated communities.

As a convenient reminder, California makes inmates pay for their own incarceration, typically well over what they can earn a day by working in prison work programs. It's not uncommon to go to jail for some minor thing and come out thousands in debt because you owe the state for food and rent while they imprisoned you. Rehab me, daddy

Hope this shit gets challenged in court.

Wait, does this ban include the straws in OP's pic? How am I supposed to drink bubble tea?

I swear every news story i hear out of California makes it seem more and more like a weird bizarro world.

Ok lets imprison those people at corporate that are responsible for the actual pollution problems we face too

Ok this is dumb

why are some california cities such dystopic hellscapes

This quite literally sounds like it's designed to create even bigger criminals out of convicts post-release absolute joke

California focusing on the real issues like always.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hell,_California

What if the prison still uses plastic straws???

Wouldn't this constitute as cruel and unusual punishment?

What if that prison also uses plastic straws? Will it be an endless loop of prisons going to jail?

The state will go to jail

It isn't?

https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-34705968 https://money.cnn.com/2015/09/18/news/economy/prison-fees-inmates-debt/index.html This is an opinion piece but cites multiple different examples of administrative fees and incarceration costs being passed on to the convict/probational ex-con that are virtually debtor's prison material: https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/san-franciscos-justice-system-gets-a-little-more-just/2018/06/13/a4ca28a6-6f13-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html The U.S. Is Locking People Up For Being Poor https://www.thenation.com/article/prosecutors-and-judges-have-brought-back-debtors-prisons/ http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-harris-criminal-fines-20140608-story.html - also an opinion piece with links https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2016/07/the-cost-of-monetary-sanctions-for-prisoners/489026/ At this point, the American Dream has been downgraded to "avoid financial ruin by staying out of jail, never getting sick, and never not working".

Why Jail time, slap a fine of them not toss them in and waste even more money on jail time over something like this.

The world of I've never had to earn an honest cent a day in my life; from the time is was conceived until the time of right now i have drifted through this world on other people's good literally coincidental fortune and logistical excess. If you have time to get into an hour long argument at 140 characters about matters that don't even actually affect your life, you possibly have too much free time and are likely spending it frivolously.

because there is profit to be made

You joke, but that's pretty much how prison actually work in Louisiana , Arkansas, Alabama, Florida and New Mexico. You potentially owe more when you get out than you were jailed for to begin with.

I didn't know that. Honestly that's fucked up.

Can't wait for the next season on COPS where they throw a granny in the slammer for finding an old fast food straw in her glovebox.

https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/215204/85cce809-f282-46e7-ac64-5f1d37942ed7/plastic-straws-curly.jpg Oh fuck, she has ASSAULT STRAWS

However, as explained by Santa Barbara's Environmental Services Outreach Coordinator, Bryan Latchford, the hefty fine and possible prison sentence will only be implemented for businesses who repeatedly refuse to abide by the new law. "Jail time or stiff fines are not the intent for first-time offenders," said Latchford told KEYT. The ordinance, which comes into effect on 2:01 a.m. January 1, 2019, does include exemptions in consideration of the Americans with Disabilities Act, answering previous criticism of the ban that says it does not take into consideration how some handicapped people require flexible, plastic straws to drink. Please read the article. Additionally it's a max fine of $1000 and six months in jail for serial offenders. I don't like the ambiguity of the law but a public defender would never let a first time offender get a huge fine or jail over this, it's primarily aimed at businesses. While the law banning straws itself isn't my idea of a useful, necessary or remotely helpful method to combat pollution, the disabilities exemption is present so I don't think it's a bad law.