Sen. Marc Basnight wants to ban plastic bags in the Outer Banks.

The Democratic Senate leader is pushing a bill that would ban plastic shopping bags in coastal counties that he represents. If successful, the pilot program could be implemented statewide.

Shoppers in Dare, Currituck and Hyde counties would receive bags made of 100 percent recycled paper, which cost more, or bring their own reusable bags.

Last week, Basnight began using paper bags for takeout orders at his restaurant.

Environmentalists blame the bags for causing problems with litter and harming waterborne creatures, but retailers warned that the recycled bags cost more.

"The cost gets passed on to consumers," said Andy Ellen, a lobbyist for the N.C. Retail Merchants Association. (N&O)

The state Senate passed a major fix for the State Health Plan today that eliminates a competitive threat to independent pharmacists but increases the cost to taxpayers by another $53 million and raises health insurance costs for the dependents of state workers, teachers and retirees.

Pharmacists and their lobbyists had stalled passage of the bill over concerns that deep discounts they would have been required to provide to belong to a new pharmacy network component would drive them out of business, Dan Kane reports.

They reached agreement with the bill's sponsor, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand of Fayetteville, to drop the network, but it was contingent upon their helping the plan save $38 million in pharmacy costs over the next two years.

"We're not getting off by any means," said Andy Ellen, a lobbyist for the N.C. Retail Merchants Association. "We have a lot of skin in this."

The network would have saved taxpayers an estimated $91 million, so the compromise adds another $53 million to the plan's cost. The bill passed by a 28 to 18 vote.

More after the jump.

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