Ask Your Senators to Support Senate Bill 51
Attend the Hearing or Contact Your Senators!
 | Martha Boneta, one of the farmers
behind Senate Bill 51
Attend the hearing or contact your senators about SB 51.
Take Action Now! |
2 p.m. Thursday - January 30, 2014
General Assembly Building
Senate Room B
1000 Bank St
Richmond, VA 23218 [directions]
(804) 698-1619
In 2012, farmer Martha Boneta was threatened with a $15,000 fine per day for hosting, on her farm, a birthday party for her friend's 10 year-old daughter. In response small farmers in Virginia supported legislation in the 2013 session, "The Boneta Bill," that would have limited local government's ability to overregulate certain on-farm activities. That bill did not make it into law, but the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS) established a task force to work out agreeable language for the 2014 session. Senate Bill (SB) 51 is the unanimous result of the workgroup.
With SB 51 in place, Virginia's small farmers would be able to fearlessly engage in on-farm activities and on-farm sales without the threat and burden of local government regulation and harassment.
Show your support for food freedom and attend the hearing on Thursday, Jan. 30 at 2 p.m! Can't attend the hearing? Please see action items below! It's time to free our farmers!
Please share this alert with friends and family.
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See details about SB 51 at www.lis.virginia.gov/SB51
Read FTCLDF's press release about the new On-Farm Activities Bill (HB 268/SB 51).
Note: House Bill 268 and Senate Bill 51 are companion bills.
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1. Attend the public hearing scheduled for Thursday, January 30, 2014 at 2 p.m. in Senate Room B, General Assembly Building 1000 Bank Street, Richmond, VA 23218.
2. Sign the online petition at www.bit.ly/ftc-va1
3. Please send an email to AND call all Committee Members and ask senators to support SB 51 (contact info below).
When you call or write, please emphasize that you want them to support small farms by supporting this bill: "Senate Bill 51: Agricultural operations; local regulation of certain activities."
4. Comment on the Richmond Sunlight webpage about SB 51 at
http://www.richmondsunlight.com/bill/2014/sb51
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Sample Message
Ask your senators to vote YES on SB 51, The On-Farm Activities Bill. See contact info below.
Your calls make a big difference.
If you send an email, please be sure to personalize your message! To make a much bigger impact, add a couple of sentences about who you are and why SB 51 matters to you.
SAMPLE MESSAGE for emails or calls:
My name is ___ and I am a Virginia resident. I am calling/emailing to urge Senator ____ to vote YES on SB 51.
Please support SB 51, introduced by Senator Stuart. I support the right of farmers and consumers to engage in direct sales and farm activities. The passage of this legislation will create untold economic opportunity for Virginia farmers!
Thank you for your support.
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Committee Email Address List
To be most effective, please follow up your email with a phone call to each representative.
Phone numbers are listed below.
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Senate Committee Members
Chairman Sen. Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. (R) - District 24
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Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, a 501(c)(4) nonprofit [EIN 20-8605130], defends the rights and broadens the freedoms of family farms and artisan food producers while protecting consumer access to raw milk and nutrient-dense foods. Learn more About Us or FTCLDF 2012 Summary.
Membership benefits include the possibility of representation in court; the Fund typically pays for all court costs. The Fund is not an insurance company and cannot guarantee representation on all legal matters. Your membership fees and donations help to keep local food sources available and preserve family farms facing unjust enforcement actions.
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Please forward this alert to others who are concerned about protecting locally-sourced nutrient-dense foods and preserving sustainable small family farms and artisan food producers as well as defending the rights to sell and to access the foods of one's choice from the source of one's choice.
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