NEW YORK - Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling for a statewide ban on plastic shopping bags.

The mayor tweeted Sunday, "We need to ban plastic bags -- the time for the debate on this is over. They're bad for the environment, they're bad for the economy, they're bad for New York. The state is behind the curve here, it's time to put our planet first."

Last year, the City Council passed a bill that would have imposed a five cent fee on every plastic or paper grocery bag as a way to reduce litter and help the environment.

But state lawmakers passed their own bill that blocked the fee from taking effect.

State Senators Liz Krueger and Brad Holylman recently proposed new legislation to ban plastic grocery bags statewide and impose a fee on paper bags.