Bozeman residents will be asked to vote this November on a ballot measure that would impose a city-wide prohibition on plastic shopping bags, straws, stirrers, and foam takeout food containers. This local plastics ban was placed on the Bozeman ballot even though Governor Greg Gianforte (R-Mt.) and state lawmakers enacted legislation in 2021 that specifically forbids local governments in Montana from regulating such products. The ban proposed in Bozeman is allowed to proceed because of a court ruling earlier this year that struck down the 2021 state preemption law.
