Retail stores will not be allowed to offer customers plastic bags and could be free to charge 5 cents a bag if customers request paper bags (with 3 cents going to the state's Environmental Protect Fund and local governments getting the other 2 cents). Exemptions would be made for plastic takeout bags used by restaurants and deli and meat counters and for plastic bags that customers use in supermarkets to carry fresh fruits and vegetables. In addition, state officials said, the plastic-bag ban does not apply to dry cleaners.

New York would join California and Hawaii as U.S. states that have such bans. California imposed a statewide ban in 2014. Hawaii is effectively in the same category because although it does not have an official statewide ban, all of its counties have such a ban already.

The plastic-bag ban is part of the annual state budget bill. The ban would take effect in March 2020.