DRIVERS in the US are being hit with a new on-the-spot penalty  – and some could face fines up to $5k or even jail.

A new law signed by Gov. Bob Ferguson has toughened the punishment for state residents.

New fines in Washington

Washington residents will soon face heftier fines for littering and higher prices for plastic grocery bags.

A new law toughens the punishment for littering and delays requirements for retailers to offer thicker bags for sale from Jan. 1, 2026 until 2028. 

Rep. Mark Klicker, R-Walla Walla, sponsor of House Bill 1293 said: “We’re called the Evergreen State and is it really evergreen with all the litter?

“Our freeways, our interstates, are just packed with litter, it’s horrible.”

He added: “The state’s low fines could be a reason why “people don’t really care”.

Washington’s new law raises the penalty from a class three to a class two civil infraction.

The fine will increase from $103 to $256, which includes all state mandated charges, according to legislative staff.

The fine would apply to amounts up to one cubic foot, or roughly the size of a backpack. The new law will take effect in late July.

Over the past five years, the number of Washington State Patrol encounters with suspected litterers decreased from 636 in 2019 to 258 in 2024.

Most of those resulted in verbal warnings rather than citations, according to state patrol data.

However, Kilcked said that while the state patrol tallied fewer contacts, the amount of litter has not decreased.

He originally wanted a task force to study possible ways to better deal with the problem but that part was removed reports The Washington Standard.

The Senate added language to delay the date when retail establishments would be required to provide thicker, reusable plastic bags to customers.

Kilcker said: “Increasing the thickness of the bag isn’t going to help people keep the bags.

“They’ll throw the bags away anyway, so it creates that much more litter into the landfills.”

In 2020, the state passed a law banning single-use plastic bags and required retail establishments to offer paper bags or thicker, reusable plastic bags for sale to consumers.

Litter costs

States spend millions of dollars each year to clean up littered roadways, parks, and coastal areas.

In addition to the direct cost of litter removal, litter also harms the environment, property values and other economic activity.

The most common types of litter are food packaging, bottles, cans, plastic bags, paper and tobacco products.

States can discourage littering through a variety of methods, one of which is to create and enforce criminal penalties that punish unwanted behavior.

In Washington for example, a gross misdemeanor for litter amounts of one cubic yard or more is punishable by a fine up to $5,000, imprisonment up to one year, or both.

How different states impose fines

While all states have some type of litter law, penalties vary, based on the amount, type, and location of litter.

In 10 states, for example, the weight or volume of litter determines the severity of the crime.

Other states focus on the type of litter, imposing penalties for dumping large items, such as furniture or major appliances.

Many states have also enacted legislation to address littering in certain places, such as public highways, coastal areas and recreational areas.

For relatively minor cases, courts typically impose a fine and may order litter cleanup or community service.

Fines range from $25 in Massachusetts to $30,000 in Maryland.

In more serious cases, offenders may be subject to imprisonment.

With sentences ranging from 10 days in Idaho to six years in Tennessee.