Fifty-two percent of the readers at this newspaper have currently voted that they would support a ban on plastic bags in their state.

A ban on plastic bags? San Antonio has considered it. So has Austin. California is on the verge of approving it.

Proponents of the ban point out that the plastic bags, while convenient, take almost a century to biodegrade in a land-fill. The bags are also made out of petroleum and can kill animals that accidentally digest them.

There are more and more proposals being drawn up at the local and state level to ban or place a tax on plastic bags. Plastic bags are bad for the environment. Most are produced using oil, and, by some estimates, 90 percent end up dumped in a landfill or clogging up streams. Those free bags can also cost you money, even if you don't use them.

How much? In some California studies, the cost to taxpayers in San Francisco every time someone uses one of these bags, is 17 cents.

Austin lawmakers want to know how much it's costing their city. They have been working on a plastic bag ban or bag tax for several years.

Austin tried to cut the number of bags going into landfills in half with a voluntary program last year. But very few people participated. Recently, the Austin City Council passed a resolution directing the city manager to determine the cost to Austin taxpayers of processing plastic bags in the waste stream. The city manager has three months to report his findings.

San Antonio, and even state leaders, are also taking action.

There's even a state senate committee considering a proposal that would lead to big changes for Texas. Representative Rafael Anchia is proposing adding a seven cent tax per bag as the solution. He hopes this will spur more to choose biodegradable paper bags, or better yet, reusable bags .

City leaders in San Antonio have a similar plan to eliminate plastic bags. Council members here have begun discussions on a bag ban or tax.

Grocery retailers like H-E-B in San Antonio and others in Austin have been working on ways to cut back on the amount of bags entering the waste stream.

Many say nothing will be enough until the cities ban plastic bags altogether. H-E-B says they are one of the only retailers right now offering recycle bins for these bags. They report they have recycled 10 million plastic bags since 2006

We want to know what you think is the solution. Would you support a statewide ban on plastic bags?