It used to be that Republicans were the champions of small government.  A corollary:  better to give power to the states vs. the federal government, and better to give power to local communities than to state legislatures.

But issues of plastic pollution have flipped that script.  As more cities and towns seek to act independently to deal with plastic pollution, Republican state legislators have acted in many cases to preempt local authority to do so.

In the first half of January, bills to that effect were filed or reintroduced by Republicans in Missouri, Nebraska and West Virginia, while Democratic lawmakers introduced bills to repeal such restrictions in Colorado and Virginia.  In New Hampshire, where the state constitution itself reserves such powers to the legislature, the House – now under Democratic control – on Jan. 9 gave approval to HB 102, which would delegate to cities and towns authority to regulate single-use plastic and paper bags.  It simultaneously a separate measure that would, among other things, require fees of 10 cents each for all such bags statewide.

Democrats also control the state Senate.  If it concurs with both bills, New Hampshire may join Connecticut in both requiring fees or taxes for single-use bags statewide, while allowing local communities to ban them altogether.