Gov. Beverly Perdue signed legislation Wednesday that bans plastic shopping bags for large retailers on the Outer Banks and sent the new law back to its chief patron, Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, in -- wait for it -- a plastic shopping bag.

Basnight, a Democrat from Manteo who owns a restaurant there, relentlessly pushed the bill to help rid the beaches of wafting bags. Many of his fellow Democrats saw it as an unexpected fixation. The law makes the Outer Banks portions of Currituck, Hyde and Dare counties the only jurisdictions in the nation to join San Francisco in banning the plastic totes.

Basnight said one of Perdue's aides delivered the bag containing the signed bill and the pen used to do it. He said he's never received legislation in that fashion in his 26 years in the legislature.

So what happened to the plastic bag?

"I hope we recycled it," Basnight said today.

The Senate gave final approval Monday night to a ban on plastic bags in grocery stores.

The ban applies to three coastal counties Dare, Currituck and Hyde and is meant to keep the bags from polluting the landscape.

The day after the Senate voted 44 to 2 to concur with the House version of the bill, the Civitas Institute released the results of a poll showing a majority of state residents oppose such bans.

The poll asked 600 voters "Would you support or oppose a law banning retail and grocery stores from providing plastic bags to shoppers?"

According to the poll, 58 percent opposed such a ban and 31 percent said they were in support. The remaining 11 percent were unsure.

The proposed ban is least popular in the 252 area code — eastern North Carolina — which encompasses the barrier islands, where only 28 percent of voters said they supported the ban and 62 percent said they were opposed to it, said Civitas Institute Executive Director Francis De Luca.

Another poll finds more support after the jump.

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What has the Senate passed by crossover?

Here are some of the more interesting bills that made it past the upper chamber before the deadline to be considered by the House:

S.B. 138: Ban hallucinogenic herb Salvia divinorum

S.B. 1062: Allow judges to include custody of pets in a domestic protective order

S.B. 1018: Prohibit stores on the Outer Banks from using plastic bags

S.B. 11: Allow district attorneys and assistant D.A.'s to carry concealed weapons in courthouses

S.B. 307: Regulate venomous or constricting pet snakes

S.B. 167: Ban cell phones and tobacco in state prisons

More after the jump.

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Outer Banks shoppers at large retailers would have the option of paper or nothing under a bill the Senate approved today.

The legislation, which passed 47 to 1, would prohibit those stores from using plastic shopping bags. Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat, is pushing the bill, which applies to Dare, Currituck and Hyde counties. Basnight said the flimsy bags are polluting the landscape of the Outer Banks, which relies on its landscape to attract tourism business.

The bill's chief sponsor, Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, described the bill as a pilot program that could go statewide. The goal is to encourage shoppers to use reusable bags, such as the cloth totes sold at groceries, and eventually eliminate both paper and plastic bags.

Nearly 20 states have considered or imposed legislation regulating plastic bags, but only the city of San Francisco has banned them.

Retailers argue that paper bags made from recycled material, which are permitted by the bill, cost more and that retrofitting stores that are set up for plastic bags also will create costs that are passed along to customers. The wiser approach, they argue, is to encourage or even mandate recycling.

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)

A bill would reduce plastic bag use.

Sen. Josh Stein, a Raleigh Democrat, said he filed the bill because he's concerned about their effects on the environment. 

"I'm driving down the road right now and looking out my window and in the trees and in the gutters and on the fences, everywhere are plastic bags," he said. "I don't want North Carolina's state flower to be the plastic bag, I want it to be the dogwood."

The bill would ban plastic bags at major retailers, with the exception of fresh produce, fresh meat and fresh fish. Smaller retailers could continue to use plastic bags.

Stein said most people would switch to reusable plastic and cloth bags, which can cost as little as a dollar. Others would use recyclable paper bags.

Either would be preferable to plastic, he said. 

"We consume hundreds of millions of these bags every year, and only one to three percent get recycled," he said.

Some recent Senate bills of note:

S.B. 943: Expand Film Credit, Sen. Linda Garrou

S.B. 973: Create Dept. of Military and Veterans Affairs, Sen. Tony Rand 

S.B. 992: Authorize Mayors to Solemnize Marriage, Sen. Don Davis

S.B. 994: Establish State Athletics Commission, Sen. Dan Clodfelter

S.B. 1006: Withholding on Contractors Identified by ITIN, Sen. David Hoyle 

S.B. 1014: Lottery Trust Fund, Sen. Doug Berger

S.B. 1018: Reduce Plastic Bag Use, Sen. Josh Stein