SB 2269 - The Rewriting of Our
Cottage Food Law
GREAT NEWS!
SB 2269 was killed on the
House floor April 18, 2019.

After many twists and turns, the final version of SB 2269 accepted by the conference committee would have greatly restricted the foods legal to sell and denied families the right to continue marketing the products they've been legally making for nearly two years.
Although the Senate voted nearly unanimously (44 yes, 2 no, 1 absent) to approve the conference committee's version of the bill April 18th, the House of Representatives took on those who believe homemade food is "too risky" because it's "potentially
dangerous.
After spirited debate, the House voted 26 Yes, 65 NO, and 3 absent to defeat the conference committee version. This allows the current Food Freedom law to stand as is.
Please take time to write a personal thank you to your representatives if they are listed above in red. These representatives believe you are safe producers of homemade food and drink products. We have earned their trust and need to do our utmost to keep it.
You can view video of floor comments on SB 2269 throughout the process here.
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE REPORT

During the third meeting of the conference committee April 17th, the group voted to send this version to the House and Senate for concurrence.
In addition to removing the low acid canned foods,
they greatly restricted refrigerated items. Those are
specifically enumerated
on page 6, lines 11-17. No coleslaw, pasta salad or vegetarian items
would be
allowed. If you sell carrot sticks, you can’t include a dipping sauce
unless
it’s a high acid canned product. In other words, this has become a
generic cottage food bill that you have in most states and not anything
like our current law.
Now we want to not only get a Do Not Concur on the conference report, but we need a vote not to appoint a new conference committee.


April 4, 2019 Update
- Drinks!
- Low-acid foods - which must be pressure canned and have a special warning label.
- Refrigerated items, which can also be transported as refrigerated and NOT frozen.
- It's very clear now that you can dehydrate, freeze-dry or blanch and freeze cut fruits and vegetables for sale.
Whole fruits and vegetables can be sold directly to restaurants and retail stores.

March 29, 2019 Update
No action taken on House Ag Committee. Next meeting set for Thursday, April 4th.
Today the committee reviewed the Health Dept's recommendations concerning amendments offered in testimony by LeAnn Harner on behalf of producers. LeAnn also had a chance to make brief comments.
Highlights:
Health Dept IS willing to include whole, uncut, fresh fruits and
vegetables. They've also included "drinks" within the definition of
"food" so beverages would be allowed.
However - they are NOT budging on allowing the canning of low-acid fruits and vegetables OR transporting refrigerated foods (except for eggs).
The Health Dept also did NOT suggest requiring a food safety class because the foods they believe should be allowed are low risk.
Committee members ARE listening to us and sympathetic to cottage food producers. We need to keep contacting those committee members and asking them to support the amendments.