State Rep. Drew Springer embraces freedom. Even for plastic bags. The Republican from Muenster recently filed “The Shopping Bag Freedom Act,” a bill intended to block plastic-bag bans in Austin and other Texas cities.

Such bans are designed to push customers into buying reusable bags at the checkout stand or bringing some to the store.

Supporters praise the bans as a boost for the environment.

Critics deride them as unwarranted government intrusion that could increase costs for consumers.

“At a time of economic recession and with food prices at an all-time high, this hidden social tax on the poor will cause many to have to choose between necessary items such as milk and bread or having a reusable bag to carry their groceries,” Springer said. “This type of government overreach must be stopped here and now.

“If a municipality can ban bags, what is to say they won’t mandate how large a soda can be or how much salt one can put on their food.”

Environmentalists say that up to 1 trillion bags are used worldwide each year and that the so-called urban tumbleweeds clog water sources, get stuck in trees and bushes, block drainage systems, endanger wildlife, pile up in streets and take decades or centuries to decompose.

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