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A Democrat from the Eastside is across the State of Washington.

鈥淪ingle use plastic straws are in our waters really polluting our rivers and the Sound and everything. It really seemed like it was time to take a look at our use of plastic in general, but plastic straws in particular,鈥� said State Senator Patty Kuderer.

Kuderer represents the state’s 48th District, which is essentially Bellevue. The Eastside Democrat says this proposal was born from research by students at Lake Washington High School. She took the research and found some of her own to craft her bill that will ban single-use plastic straws by July 1, 2020.

But Kuderer鈥檚 proposal has one condition.

鈥淭hat we create outreach to our disabled community and find out what we need to do to meet those needs? Because there are some people who actually need plastic straws in order to get their nutrition,鈥� she said.

鈥淚鈥檓 very concerned about my folks who have disabilities and difficulties consuming food and that actually need these straws, these articulated straws in order to eat, and I want to make sure that we don鈥檛 have an outright ban of everything and then come back to find out that there are people who need these,鈥� Kuderer said.

She says the idea is to come up with a reasonable balance between banning the plastic straws and allowing them for people who genuinely need them because, 鈥渜uite simply they鈥檙e wasteful,鈥� Kuderer said.

Under her proposal, the state health department and DSHS would have to work together on outreach and report back to the Legislature by the end of this year with recommendations to ensure there are not any unintended consequences for people with disabilities. For the rest of us, Kuderer says there are other options.

鈥淭here鈥檚 paper straws, there鈥檚 actually steel straws and then there are no straws,” she said. “You know as one person said to me 鈥業 drink my iced coffee now without a straw and it tastes just the same.鈥� We need to be more conscious of what we do to our environment. This is our home, and what it鈥檚 doing to our food supply 鈥� you know these plastics breakdown and they create nanoparticles that get into our food and this is a real concern.”

And she says her proposal may not be the only one targeting plastics this session, with chatter that other lawmakers are working on bills targeting all plastic.

But Kuderer believes given the state of the situation, it鈥檚 time to seriously address this issue.

鈥淲e鈥檝e seen the garbage dump that鈥檚 floating around the Pacific Ocean that鈥檚 three times the size of Texas and a lot of that is plastic in there, and it鈥檚 choking our marine life, it鈥檚 getting into our food supply 鈥� the nanoparticles like I said 鈥� and I think we need to be more serious about taking care of the environment and not being so wasteful,鈥� Kuderer explained.