Local food bills in the Texas Legislature
Our bills to help small farmers and local producers are off to a great start! Although the session officially started seven weeks ago, the deadline to file bills is this Friday and the legislators are just now starting to dig into committee hearings. The next 90 days will be a whirlwind!
NEW: Support House Bill 3373: Stop TDA’s Intrusion onto Small Farms
Home Food Security: The bill to protect the rights of individuals to raise food for themselves was one of the very first to get a committee hearing! HB 92 by Representative Landgraf covers our “home food security” bill from last session, and adds provisions to protect the right to provide for one’s energy and water needs as well. As filed, the bill only protects homeowners, but we have talked with Rep. Landgraf, and he intends to broaden it to cover all residents.
You can see the video of the hearing at
Agriculture & Livestock – Mar 1st, 2023 (granicus.com) starting at 28 minutes. FARFA’s Executive Director testifies at the 48-minute mark.
As is typical, the bill was left “pending” at the end of the hearing. Rep. Landgraf will develop a “committee substitute” that will address some of the objections (including some limitations on the new energy, water, and generator provisions), and the committee will take that up for a vote, most likely in 2-3 weeks.
Egg Grading: Our bill to allow the sale of ungraded eggs to restaurants and retailers has bipartisan sponsors! Senator Johnson (D) and Representative Cain (R) have filed SB 481 and HB 2945. And since Cain is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, we are in a great position to push forward with this bill. The Poultry Federation, which represents the large poultry companies, is already busy doing the rounds to oppose the bill and making completely inaccurate claims about food safety … even though grading is solely a marketing issue and provides no health or food safety benefits. Given the current egg shortages, this bill is particularly important.
- Read our Fact Sheet on HB 2945 re: Egg Grading (House Only)
- Read our Fact Sheet on HB 2945 and SB 481
Cottage Foods: There is a plethora of cottage food bills – five different ones! We are focused on SB 829 by Senator Kolkhorst, which includes all of the key reforms we wanted: (1) allowing indirect sales where the cottage food operator is just one step removed from the consumer; (2) providing a way to stop local health departments from improperly requiring permits; (3) raising the sale cap from $50,000 to $100,000; (4) allowing producers to put their email or phone instead of their home address on the label; and (5) allowing the sale of refrigerated baked goods. Senator Kolkohrst is Chair of the Health and Human Services Committee and a long-time champion of cottage food producers.
Meat Processing: SB 691 by Senator Kolkhorst would allow consumers to buy animal shares in any quantity (even just a few pounds) and then agree with the farmer to have the animal processed in a custom-exempt slaughterhouse, which is often much more accessible and affordable. The bill has been sent to the Senate Water, Ag & Rural Affairs Committee, and we are working to get a hearing. The USDA has already started raising objections, even though similar laws have been in place in Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska for two years.
Property Taxes: The Fair Taxes for Small Farmers bill was the last of our priority bills to be filed, but it too has sponsors in both chambers. Senator Paxton filed SB 1455 and Representative Thimesch filed HB 3857 this week, to specify that fruits and vegetables are agricultural uses that qualify for the property tax exemption the same as cattle, grains, or hay. The bill also directs the Comptroller to convene stakeholder groups to create guidelines to ensure the fair treatment of people using small acreages to grow food, as well as those using organic and other methods that often aren’t recognized by the local county tax assessors.
It is a very long road from getting a bill filed to getting it passed into law! Almost 6,000 bills have been filed, and the majority will die at some point – some without ever getting a committee hearing. The system is designed to kill bills, not pass them, especially bills brought by grassroots organizations. But this is not our first rodeo, and we know the system! With your help – your calls, your letters, your testimony at hearings, and your financial support – we know that we can make real progress on these issues. Thank you for being part of this important work!
Do any of these bills directly impact you? Now is a good time to tell your elected officials that! You can look up who represents you at Who Represents Me? (texas.gov). Call them, let them know you are a constituent, and ask them to co-author the bills that are important to you!