Page 99 - Summer 2019 Journal

MONTANA – HB 490 plus
House Bill 490 would have legalized raw milk sales and created a two-tier system in which those producing ten gallons of raw milk per day would operate under a small-scale raw milk license while dairies producing more than ten gallons per day would need to obtain a commercial raw milk license. In effect, HB 490 would have acted as a de facto ban on raw milk. Those producing more than ten gallons per day would have been required to have the dairy’s physical facility be up to Grade A standards, a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. Even small-scale raw milk dairies could have been subject to onerous physical facility requirements. The bill also could have subjected dairies to expensive testing requirements and have made them pay for costs of a foodborne illness outbreak investigation even if they weren’t held responsible for the outbreak. HB 490 died with the House floor vote. Two other bills died without a hearing that, respectively, would have legalized herdshare agreements (House Bill 521) and would have legalized sales of raw milk and raw milk products by producers with herds of less than ten cows, twenty goats or twenty sheep (House Bill 516).
NEVADA – SB 418
Under current law, producers can only sell raw milk and raw milk products where a county milk commission has specifically certified those foods; Nye County has the only county milk commission in the state. Senate Bill 418 would have allowed producers to sell statewide the raw milk and raw milk certified by a county milk commission. SB 418 also would have exempted micro-dairies (with up to five cows, ten goats or ten sheep) from certification standards and allowed them to sell raw dairy without regulation directly to the consumer at the farm where the milk is produced. SB 418 passed the Senate but died without a hearing in the Assembly Committee on Health and Human Services.
NORTH CAROLINA – HB 103, HB 385 and SB 509
Sponsors introduced three raw milk bills in the 2019 session. House Bill 103 allows the licensed sale of raw milk in retail stores by dairies with no more than ten lactating cows, ten lactating goats or ten lactating sheep. Companion bills, Senate Bill 509 and House Bill 385, would ban herdshare agreements; the state legalized the distribution of raw milk and raw milk products through herdshare agreements as part of the 2018 North Carolina Farm Bill. None of the three bills has received a hearing but the legislature’s rule allows bills to be tacked on to unrelated legislation; this is what happened in 2004 when the legislature passed a herdshare ban at the end of the session. As long as the legislature is still in session, SB 509 and HB 385 remain dangerous.
NEW YORK – AB 5867
Assembly Bill 5867 would legalize herdshare agreements, referred to in the bill as “shared animal ownership agree- ments,” without regulation. Currently, in New York, the licensed on-farm sale of raw milk is legal. AB 5867 has been referred to the Assembly Agriculture Committee.
TENNESSEE – SB 358
There were several raw dairy bills before the legislature. Senate Bill 358 which allows the sale of raw butter by produc- ers with a dairy plant license became law on April 30; the bill requires dairy plant operators to keep the butter-making separate from the production of other dairy products. Producers must also put a warning label on the packages con- taining the raw butter. Senate Bill 15 would have banned herdshare agreements; the bill died because no companion House bill was introduced. The sponsor of SB 15 later tacked on an amendment to an unrelated bill, Senate Bill 1123, but that bill died in committee. Current law allows the unregulated distribution of raw milk and raw milk products through herdshare agreements.
UTAH – HB 182
The final version of House Bill 182 would have allowed licensed dairies to sell raw butter and raw cream; currently, the only raw dairy products licensed producers can sell are milk and aged cheese. HB 182 passed out of the House and the Senate committee, but time ran out on the 2019 session before a vote of the full Senate could take place.
NEW INFORMATION RESOURCE FOR WAPF MEMBERS
Consult with Pete Kennedy on state laws, regulations and policies including food freedom legislation and issues regard- ing consumer access to raw milk, cottage foods and on-farm meat and poultry processing. (Pete cannot give individual legal advice or recommend support for or opposition to pending legislation.) Contact Pete at pete@realmilk.com.
SUMMER2019 Wise Traditions 97