Bette Midler 'Plastic Bags' Ban: Rails Californa Lawmakers; Fail to Pass Ban

Bette Midler railed California lawmakers after the state Senate came up three votes short on passing legislation banning single-use plastic bags Thursday, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Almost 20 percent of the population of California lives in areas where local laws prohibit stores from handing out the plastic bags. The rest of the state, however, has no ordinances against businesses giving the bags to customers.

"Plastic bags are a scourge to the planet and everything that tries to live on it," the actress, singer and activist said.

"Shame on them all for caving," said Midler.

Midler also slammed Republican lawmakers via Twitter after the vote.

She wrote that if the party was "looking for younger supporters," they should "grab 'em before they can read."

The star-studded lobbying effort included Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt and Tom Hanks' wife Rita Wilson.

Sen. Kevin de Leon, a Los Angeles Democrat, told fellow lawmakers that the ban could potentially put up to 500 immigrant women out of work in his district. De Leon told the Los Angeles Times that his constituents and their jobs had to come first.

State Sen. Ricardo Lara, a Los Angeles County Democrat, agreed with de Leon and said his district could lose up to 700 jobs, according to KQED Bay Area News.

State Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat from the San Fernando Valley area who sponsored the bill, said governments are required to spend excess money to clean up plastic bags that are discards on beaches, in streets and in the ocean.

The proposed law would have banned the single-use bags from grocery stores with more than $2 million in sales each year, and from those with more than 10,000 square feet of retail space.