State Senate approves diluted version of plastic-straw ban in California

Efforts to eliminate single-use plastic straws gained momentum when the state Senate, in a party-line vote Monday, approved a bill that would ban full-service restaurants from providing the straws unless specifically requested by the customer.
While many environmentalists applauded the move, it stopped short of local laws approved by several coastal cities and counties that established outright bans on single-use plastic straws for all restaurants and food vendors.
The state bill, which original