San Antonio cannot enforce a plastic bag ban or fee. Tex. Health & Safety Code § 361.0961 preempts local checkout-bag ordinances, as the Texas Supreme Court confirmed in City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Ass'n (2018). San Antonio considered a ban in 2013 but tabled it pending the appellate ruling; after Laredo, the city dropped the proposal entirely.
Tex. Health & Safety Code § 361.0961(a) bars cities from adopting an ordinance to 'prohibit or restrict, for solid waste management purposes, the sale or use of a container or package' or to 'assess a fee or deposit' on such use. San Antonio's Solid Waste Management Department studied a bag ordinance in 2012–2013 (proposed Chapter 14, Article XII of the Municipal Code), but the council deferred action while Laredo's similar ordinance was litigated. The Texas Supreme Court's June 22, 2018 decision in City of Laredo v. Laredo Merchants Ass'n, 550 S.W.3d 586 (Tex. 2018), held unanimously that § 361.0961 preempts municipal bag ordinances regardless of their stated purpose. San Antonio formally withdrew the proposal in late 2018. Today the city promotes the SA Tomorrow Sustainability Plan and the ReWorksSA recycling program, both of which use education and voluntary action — bring-your-own-bag campaigns, in-store film recycling, and the new 'Bring Your Own Cup' partnership with H-E-B — rather than mandates.
No violations exist — there is no ordinance to violate. The city enforces general litter under Tex. Health & Safety Code § 365.012 and San Antonio City Code § 14-25 (illegal dumping), neither of which targets bags specifically. Any future bag-restriction ordinance would be void on its face under § 361.0961.
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