Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund monitors, advises, and works to influence hundreds of food freedom bills and policies across the country that align with our mission. We have been tracking their progress and engaging with legislators and our members to lend our support to those efforts that seek to expand food freedom.
We will be offering legislative and policy updates regularly. Subscribe to our email list (using the form on this page) to receive important policy news and legislative updates that affect independent farmers, ranchers, homesteaders, cottage food makers, and consumers. And join us to support these efforts and receive all of the benefits of membership.
Please review below the progress of some of the most influential legislation and policies we are working to move forward. If a bill dies in committee, dies in session, or is vetoed by the governor, please remember that it is possible for the bill to be reintroduced, so your opportunity to engage in the process and lend your support continues throughout the year!
Passed Into Law
Arizona House Bill 2042 – Passed and signed by the Governor. HB 2042 expands the kinds of foods that meet the cottage food exemption, including poultry or poultry food products that either fall under the requirements of the 1,000-bird exemption or have been inspected, and meat products made from inspected meat. Cottage food products that contain dairy, meat, or poultry, are allowed if they are to be sold by the preparer in person, or remotely, and are maintained at the appropriate temperature when transported. Producers must meet labelling, registration and other requirements and complete a food handler’s training course.
Indiana House Bill 1106 – Passed and signed by the Governor. HB 1106 amends the Indiana labor and safety code to allow, with certain exceptions, for agritourism facilities and farms to give rides on barrel trains pulled by farm tractors that have engines under 40 horsepower without needing a permit or state inspection.
Iowa House Bill 2257 – Passed and signed by the Governor. HB 2257 allows a poultry establishment at which inspection is maintained to engage in custom operations and exempt from inspection any poultry slaughtered and processed on a custom basis, provided that the establishment is sanitary, the custom products are labeled “Not for Sale,” and the items handled on a custom basis are separated from those poultry products prepared for sale and labeled as “Not for Sale.”
Maine Right to Food Law Amendment – Passed. The new amendment in the Right to Food Law strengthens the prohibition on the state from taking enforcement action against, or interfering with, transactions allowed by local food ordinances, including a person who provides in a direct producer-to-consumer transaction of food or food products that that person grows, produces, processes, or prepares.
Oklahoma House Bill 2975 – Passed and signed by the Governor. HB 2975’s updated requirements allowing for the sale of “non-time or temperature controlled” homemade food products. Producers can obtain a registration number to be placed on their products rather than the producer’s name, phone number and address.
Vermont House Bill 603 – Passed and signed by the Governor. HB 603 repealed certain requirements for poultry slaughter and removed the requirement that birds can only be sold whole.
Virginia House Bill 759 – Passed and approved by the Governor. To Be Enacted July 1, 2024, HB 759 increases the revenue cap for sales of pickles and other acidified vegetables to $9,000 and allows for the sale of these foods in private homes without an inspection.
West Virginia House Bill 4911 – Passed and became law. HB 4911 permits the sale of raw milk with certain labelling conditions.
In Progress
Alaska House Bill 251 – Passed the House and crossed over to the Senate. HB 251 would significantly increase the freedom of choice for consumers seeking cottage foods and meats by exempting certain foods and drinks prepared in an uninspected kitchen from state labeling, licensing, packaging, permitting, and inspection requirements. It would also allow consumers to acquire meat from a producer by way of ownership share in an animal if certain conditions are met.
Connecticut Senate Bill 296 – Passed by the House and Senate. SB 296 creates a task force to study roaming livestock.
Louisiana House Bill 467 – Passed unanimously through the House and crossed over to the Senate. HB 467 would allow for the sale of raw milk in Louisiana by producers who adhere to training, inspection, sanitation, testing, and labeling requirements as outlined in the bill.
New Hampshire HB 1565 – Passed the House and crossed over to the Senate. HB 1565 would remove acidified foods from the definition of “potentially hazardous foods,” and exempt from licensure some producers of acidified foods in a home kitchen.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 1963 – Passed the Senate and crossed over to the House. SB 1963 amends current law which allows incidental sales of goat milk, to also allow such sales of donkey milk direct to the consumer of up to 100 gallons a month. The bill also seeks to now prohibit raw goat or donkey milk producers from making cheese with milk or cream produced on their own farm.
Failed Bills
Indiana’s Senate Bill 186, – Died in committee. SB 186 was a right to food bill that sought to affirm individuals’ right to grow food and sought to prevent zoning ordinances from prohibiting the growing or raising of food.
Maryland “Cage Free” Bills – Died in committee. These bills would have prohibited a farm owner or operator from knowingly confining egg-laying hens in enclosures that do not meet the “Cage Free” standards and would have prohibited the sale of shell eggs and certain egg products.
Mississippi Senate Bill 2507 – Died in session. HB 2507 sought to amend the state’s milk law to allow the sale of raw milk from the farm subject to certain conditions.
Missouri House Bill 1711 – Died in session. HB 1711 sought to modify provisions in the milk code to allow for retail sale of raw milk provided the milk contained warning labels and that the herd was inspected and certified as disease free.
Missouri Senate Bill 1318 – Died in session. HB 1318 sought to establish the “Freedom to Farm Act” to protect the rights of farms and ranches from government interventions that restrict their ability to sell their products; and sought to protect all operations (except those engaged in swine production) from nuisance claims.
Nebraska Bills LB 321, LB 662, and LB 117 – Died in session. LB 321 sought to amend the Nebraska Pure Food Act to allow for time and temperature-controlled foods to be made from a private home under certain conditions. LB 662 would have amended the “Right to Farm Act” definitions of public and private nuisances. LB 117 would have changed provisions to the Independent Processor Assistance Program.
New Mexico House Bill 162 – Died in session. HB 162 sought to establish a state meat inspection program.
Utah House Bill 31 and House Bill 281 – Died in session. House Bill 31 sought to establish a voluntary agrotourism registry and define foodborne illness outbreaks and responsive actions. House Bill 281 would have updated current law to revise labeling requirements for raw milk and outlined rules for testing at third party labs.
West Virginia House Bill 5140 – Died in committee. HB 5140 sought to allow permitted custom or noncommercial slaughterhouses to sell meat to customers without restrictions on portions size.
Washington State – Several bills died in session. Both the House and Senate introduced bills that sought to increase the cap on gross sales for cottage food businesses to $50,000; and to create permits and guidelines for “microenterprise” home kitchens. The House also introduced a bill that sought to allow raw milk to be directly sold to consumers from farms with less than two cows or less than nine sheep and/or goats.
Wyoming Bill SF 103 – Vetoed by the Governor. SF 103 sought to allow for the sale of homemade meat products from animals slaughtered on the producer’s premises or in a custom slaughter facility, subject to the governor certifying that the sale of custom slaughtered meat had been legalized under federal law.