TN Action Alert – SB 1856 Meat to Families in Need 3/9/22 Hearing

Tell Committee Members to Vote YES on SB 1856

Support Families in Need with Meat

The Senate Health and Welfare Committee will be hearing Senate Bill 1856 (SB 1856) on Wednesday, March 9 at 3pm. SB 1856 authorizes hunters to donate meat from wild hogs and other non-indigenous animals (“exotic animals”) to non-profit organizations that operate food banks and soup kitchens. The “preparation” of the wild game must be conducted either at the premises where the hunter killed the exotic animal, at the hunter’s premises, or at a custom slaughterhouse. Transportation is limited to moving the carcass or meat of the exotic animal to and from either of those locations and the venue of the nonprofits.

Passage of SB 1856 will help combat poverty and hunger and reduce food insecurity in Tennessee.

ACTION TO TAKE

1. Call and/or email members of the Senate Health and Welfare Committee and tell them to vote YES on SB 1856. Calls are best. It is especially important to contact a committee member if you are a constituent. You may use Talking Points below.

Copy/paste this block of emails to reach all committee members:

sen.rusty.crowe@capitol.tn.gov; sen.ferrell.haile@capitol.tn.gov; sen.shane.reeves@capitol.tn.gov; sen.joey.hensley@capitol.tn.gov; sen.ed.jackson@capitol.tn.gov; sen.becky.massey@capitol.tn.gov; sen.art.swann@capitol.tn.gov; sen.bo.watson@capitol.tn.gov; sen.jeff.yarbro@capitol.tn.gov

Committee member phone numbers are listed below. You can find your legislators at this link,

https://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/Apps/fmlv3/lookup.aspx

TALKING POINTS

1. Passage of the bill will better enable food banks to feed the growing numbers of people, that rely on them for their sustenance. With supply chain disruptions and rolling shortages of food over the past two years, the conventional food system is a less reliable source of food for the nonprofits that feed those in need.

2. People have always processed wild or domestically raised animals to feed their families, whether it was processing the animals themselves or using a custom facility. There is an excellent track record for food safety with this practice; reports of illness are few from eating meat of home- or custom-processed animals.

WAPF will issue further alerts on SB 1856 as developments warrant.

COMMITTEE CONTACT

Senate Health and Welfare Committee members are listed below with their capitol phone number.

Rusty Crowe (R-3) – Chair

sen.rusty.crowe@capitol.tn.gov

615-741-2468

Ferrell Haile (R-18) – 1st Vice Chair

sen.ferrell.haile@capitol.tn.gov

615-741-1999

Shane Reeves (R-14) -2nd Vice Chair

sen.shane.reeves@capitol.tn.gov

615-741-1066