Virginia lawmakers will decide next year whether to impose a nickel tax on plastic bags just like patrons pay in D.C. and Montgomery County in Maryland.

Del. Joe Morrissey, D-Highland Springs, is proposing the tax to raise money for Virginia’s Water Quality Improvement Fund, a key revenue stream for Chesapeake Bay cleanup. If passed, by July 2014, every plastic bag handed out at the register at grocery stores, convenience stores and drugstores would cost customers 5 cents.