Maryland Del. Brooke Lierman was the sponsor and principal advocate for the bill. (Astrid Riecken / For The Washington Post)
Luke Broadwater reports for The Baltimore Sun
The Maryland General Assembly gave final approval Wednesday night to a bill that would make Maryland the first state in the country to ban polystyrene foam food containers and cups.
The House of Delegates voted 100-37 to approve the legislation sponsored by Del. Brooke Lierman, a Baltimore Democrat.
It was Lierman’s third attempt to pass the bill.
“After three years of hard work, I’m thrilled to see Maryland be a leader in the fight to end our reliance on single-use plastics that are polluting our state, country, and world by passing a bill to prohibit foam food containers,” Lierman said. “The health of the Chesapeake Bay, our waterways, our neighborhoods, and our children’s futures depends on our willingness to do the hard work of cleaning the mess that we inherited and created.”
The legislation had already passed the state Senate by a 31-13 vote. The Senate bill was sponsored by Sen. Cheryl Kagan, a Montgomery County Democrat.
The measure now advances to the desk of Republican Gov. Larry Hogan, who has not taken a position yet on whether he would sign the bill.
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