Bill Text: TX HB2084 | 2011-2012 | 82nd Legislature | Comm Sub

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Bill Title: Relating to the regulation of small food production and sales operations.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Republican 5-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-05-03 - Comm. report sent to Local & Consent Calendar [HB2084 Detail]

Download: Texas-2011-HB2084-Comm_Sub.html

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82R22304 SJM-D
By: Kolkhorst, Rodriguez, et al. H.B. No. 2084
Substitute the following for H.B. No. 2084:
By: Coleman C.S.H.B. No. 2084

A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT
relating to the regulation of small food production and sales
operations.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
SECTION 1. Section 437.001, Health and Safety Code, is
amended by amending Subdivisions (1) and (3) and adding
Subdivisions (2-a), (2-b), (3-a), and (5) to read as follows:
(1) "Board" means the executive commissioner [Texas
Board of Health].
(2-a) "Baked good" includes cookies, cakes, breads,
Danish, donuts, pastries, pies, and other items that are prepared
by baking the item in an oven. A baked good does not include a
potentially hazardous food item as defined by department rule.
(2-b) "Cottage food production operation" means an
individual, operating out of the individual's home, who:
(A) produces a baked good, a canned jam or jelly,
or a dried herb or herb mix for sale at the person's home or a
farmers' market;
(B) has an annual gross income of $50,000 or less
from the sale of food described by Paragraph (A); and
(C) sells the foods produced under Paragraph (A)
only directly to consumers.
(3) "Department" means the [Texas] Department of State
Health Services.
(3-a) "Executive commissioner" means the executive
commissioner of the Health and Human Services Commission.
(5) "Home" means a primary residence that contains a
kitchen and appliances designed for common residential usage.
SECTION 2. Chapter 437, Health and Safety Code, is amended
by adding Sections 437.0191 and 437.0192 to read as follows:
Sec. 437.0191. EXEMPTION FOR COTTAGE FOOD PRODUCTION
OPERATIONS. A cottage food production operation is not a food
service establishment for purposes of this chapter.
Sec. 437.0192. REGULATION OF COTTAGE FOOD PRODUCTION
OPERATIONS BY LOCAL HEALTH DEPARTMENT PROHIBITED; COMPLAINTS. (a)
A local health department may not regulate the production of food at
a cottage food production operation.
(b) Each local health department and the department shall
maintain a record of a complaint made by a person against a cottage
food production operation.
SECTION 3. (a) The speaker of the house of representatives
shall charge a house standing committee with subject matter
jurisdiction over food regulation to conduct an interim study on
the regulation of small food production and sales operations.
(b) The committee designated under Subsection (a) of this
section shall:
(1) study the regulation of small dairy production
operations and analyze whether:
(A) a regulatory scheme that is separate from the
regulatory scheme for dairy producers under Chapter 435, Health and
Safety Code, should be developed for small dairy production
operations; and
(B) permit fees for small dairy production
operations should be decreased;
(2) study the feasibility and desirability of
establishing a nutritional assistance program that would:
(A) allow a person receiving benefits under a
nutritional assistance program administered under Chapter 33,
Human Resources Code, to purchase at a farmers' market items
eligible under the program;
(B) provide an affordable method for enabling
individual sellers at a farmers' market to accept and process an
electronic benefits transfer as payment for food; and
(C) make available to a person receiving benefits
under a nutritional assistance program administered under Chapter
33, Human Resources Code, information regarding the program and a
list of participating farmers' markets; and
(3) in coordination with the comptroller:
(A) determine whether land is eligible, under
current law, for appraisal under Subchapter C or D, Chapter 23, Tax
Code, if the land is used to:
(i) cultivate an urban farm;
(ii) cultivate a community garden;
(iii) produce specialty crops; or
(iv) raise livestock or produce crops using
organic, sustainable, or other unconventional methods; and
(B) study issues regarding the eligibility of
land used for the purposes listed in Paragraph (A) of this
subdivision for appraisal under Subchapter C or D, Chapter 23, Tax
Code.
SECTION 4. This Act takes effect September 1, 2011.