Seventeen Republican attorneys general filed a lawsuit against California, challenging a law they say impacts the entire nation.
The lawsuit, led by Republican Nebraska Attorney General Mike Hilgers, targets California’s Plastic Pollution Prevention and Packaging Producer Responsibility Act. “The act offends state sovereignty,” the lawsuit claims. “California is not entitled to pronounce nationwide policies; it has no power to ‘project its legislation’ into other States as if it were among equals.”
“The genius of our system of federalism is that it allows for differing views on and approaches to important policy questions,” the filing argues. “What it does not allow is for one State—no matter how populous or economically significant—to impose its policy preferences on all others.”
According to a press release from Hilgers’ office, the California law is an “unprecedented overreach” that imposes “extensive requirements on manufacturers, distributors, and companies that package or ship products in plastic containers or use other types of packaging materials that merely incorporate plastics.” His office noted that the policy forces businesses across the nation to comply with California. The office explained that the law also drives up prices.
Eric Hoplin, President and CEO of National Association of Wholesale-Distributors (NAW), the only company involved in the case, said, “No state should limit interstate commerce, let alone delegate the power to set and collect taxes to a third party outside of the scope of the public scrutiny.”
“Because the act extends California’s regulatory reach far beyond its borders and brings within its sweep conduct wholly unconnected to California, the Act violates principles of federalism, the horizontal separation of powers, and due process,” Hoplin added.
