Bill Text: WV HCR56 | 2021 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Create a resolution urging the FDA not to pass certain rules.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2021-03-26 - To Rules [HCR56 Detail]
Download: West_Virginia-2021-HCR56-Introduced.html
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 56
(By Delegates Hamrick and Kimble)
[Introduced March 16, 2021]
Urging the FDA to not pass proposed new rules which would hurt and unfairly burden West Virginia farmers.
Whereas, Congress recognized in the 2002 Bioterrorism Act that foods can be traced without imposing requirements on the very first or last links in the chain – the farmer/rancher and the entity that sells or serves the food to the consumer (grocers, restaurants, and other “retail food establishments”); and
Whereas, Congress re-affirmed that approach to traceability in the Food Safety Modernization Act in 2010; and
Whereas, Moreover, Congress recognized the importance of protecting small food businesses from expensive regulations that are not needed for small operations; and
Whereas, In adopting the initial regulations under FSMA, the FDA identified that food businesses grossing less than $1 million annually were “very small businesses” in the context of our food system; and
Whereas, In these newest proposed regulations, the FDA is contradicting all these principles and imposing costly, burdensome requirements on farms, retail food establishments, and very small businesses; and
Whereas, If FDA’s Additional Traceability Records for Certain Foods Proposed Rule (“Traceability Proposed Rule”) is implemented, it will hurt West Virginia farmers, the entire farming community, West Virginia food sources, and others; therefore, be it,
Resolved by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the FDA make the following changes:
(a) Limit the scope of the rule to “facilities,” as that term is used in the other FSMA regulations;
(b) Exclude farms, unless they conduct activities that would classify them as “farm mixed type facilities;”
(c) Exclude retail food establishments, whose primary purpose is to sell or serve food directly to consumers;
(d) Exempt very small businesses, defined consistent with other FSMA rules and the Small Business Administration’s classifications;
(e) Exempt foods that are “identity preserved” from farm to consumer, without requiring that individual items be in sealed plastic packaging;
(f) Remove the electronic spreadsheet requirement;
(g) If farms are included, remove the requirement for GPS coordinates for where the crops are grown; and
(h) Modify the requirements for “first receivers,” so that they are not required to keep records that go beyond the underlying requirements for the farms and food manufacturers they receive items from.
Further Resolved, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates forward a copy of this resolution to the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the President of the United States Senate, the office of the FDA, and to each member of West Virginia’s congressional delegation.
