This past year, Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund has been monitoring, advising, and working to influence hundreds of food freedom bills and policies across the country in order to expand food freedom.
Thank you to all of our members for their continued support and for their advocacy in these efforts to broaden the rights of independent farmers, artisanal food producers, and consumers!
As state legislative sessions across the country have been winding down, we wanted to share the progress of some of the important legislative pieces we have been tracking and engaging in. If you are interested in regular policy updates, 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.
Legislators will soon begin crafting the 2025 legislative agenda for bills to be introduced or reintroduced, and it will be critical to begin advocacy on these bills soon in order to have another successful year of legislative victories that promote food freedom.
If you are interested in learning the steps you can take to support these efforts, be sure to read: How to Take Policy Action and Be a Changemaker for Food Freedom
Passed Into Law
Alaska House Bill 251—Passed and signed by Governor. HB 251 exempts most homemade food from state labeling, licensing, packaging, permitting, and inspection requirements if the food is sold for personal consumption within the state at a farmer’s market, an agricultural fair, a farm, the producer’s home or office, the retail location of a third-party seller, or a location agreed on between the producer and the buyer. The act also requires that sellers post a sign that the food was made in a home kitchen, and must separate homemade food from inspected foods in retail settings. The act also now allows producers to process for members of herd shares subject to contract, labelling and other requirements.
Delaware Senate Bill 273—Passed and signed by Governor. SB 273 allows for direct to consumer sales of raw milk and raw milk products with a permit and as long as certain testing, training, sanitation and other requirements are met. The law indicates that “distributions” also require a permit.
Illinois House Bill 2601—Passed and signed by Governor. HB 2601 amends the Meat and Poultry Inspection Act to allow for the Director of Agriculture to exempt some Type I licensees from inspection if the Type I licensee complies with certain rules, including clearly marking all such custom articles or any containers or packages containing such articles, “NOT FOR SALE.” This act will be effective as of January 1, 2025.
Illinois Senate Bill 3077—Passed and signed by Governor. SB 3077 creates the Local Food Infrastructure Grant Act that allows for Illinois farms, cooperatives, food hubs, food businesses, and processing facilities with less than 50 employees to apply for grants ranging from $1,000- $250,000 for collaborative projects and $1,000-$75,000 for individual projects. To be eligible, people will need to show that the proposed grant will help fill a gap in critical infrastructure for a community/region or demonstrate the investment will primarily serve underserved farmers or underserved communities.
Illinois Senate Bill 2617—Passed and signed by Governor. Effective January 1, 2025. SB 2617 amends the Food Handling Regulation Enforcement Act to remove the definition of “potentially hazardous food” and replace it with “food that is not a time/temperature control for safety food.” The bill also states that counties without a local health department, the county must enter into an agreement or contract with a local health department in an adjacent county to register cottage food operations.
Louisiana House Bill 467 Passed and signed by the Governor. HB 46 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 and is effective as of August 1, 2024.
New Hampshire House Bill 1565 – Passed and signed by Governor. HB 1565 removes acidified foods from the definition of “potentially hazardous foods,” and exempts some producers of acidified foods from licensure if these producers are in a home kitchen.
In Progress
Michigan House Bills 5602, 5603, and 5604—These bills would legalize the sale of raw milk to consumers or retail food establishments in Michigan, if producers meet specific labeling and quality standards. These bills are currently are in the Michigan House Committee on Government Affairs.
New Jersey Assembly Bill 1086 and Senate Bill 3414—These bills would permit the sale of raw milk in New Jersey under certain conditions and establishes raw milk permit program. They are currently in the Assembly Commerce, Economic Development and Agriculture Committee and the Senate Economic Growth Committee respectively.
New York Senate Bill 2957 and Assembly Bill 107—These bills would require producers of shell eggs or liquid eggs for human consumption to only confine egg-laying hens in cage-free housing systems. The bills are currently in the Senate Agriculture and Assembly Agriculture committees respectively.
New York Senate Bill 1057—Referred to Senate Agriculture Committee. SB 1057 would amend the state Agriculture and Markets Law to allow for licensing and regulation of home kitchen operations.
Pennsylvania House Bill 2293—Referred to House Committee on Agriculture and Rural Affairs. HB 2293 would amend the state Milk Sanitation Law to allow every holder of a permit to sell raw milk to sell milk products containing “Raw Milk” and manufactured dairy products containing “Raw Milk.”
Massachusetts Senate Bill 2761—Reported favorably by committee and referred to the committee on Senate Ways and Means. SB 2761 seeks to support cottage food operations by defining them as producers of food by a person who produces cottage food products only in the home kitchen of that person’s domestic residence for retail sale or directly to the consumer. The bill also creates uniform rules for cottage food operations across the state and allows certain categories of cottage food products to be sold without a permit from a local health board.
Failed
California Assembly Bill 2745—This bill passed through the California Assembly and Senate, but was vetoed by the governor. The bill would have given county agricultural commissioners the ability to levy civil penalties and fines against a person whose property is a public nuisance because it is with infected or infested with pests. The governor vetoed the bill because of the concern that the bill would have unintentionally led to penalties being assessed against growers who utilize beneficial insects in their practices that are not harmful to adjacent areas.
Illinois Senate Bill 0152—Died in session. SB 0152 would have allowed a dairy farm to sell, distribute, or offer to sell or distribute unpasteurized milk or milk products for human use without being issued a permit if the animal that produces the milk or milk product is housed at the dairy farm.
Minnesota House Bill 1167 and Senate Bill 4654—Both of these bills pertained to the sale of raw milk and unpasteurized milk products in the state of Minnesota. Both bills died in session.
New Hampshire House Bill 1574— Ruled inexpedient to legislate. HB 1574 would have removed certain regulations on selling raw milk directly to consumers without a milk producer-distributor license.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 1963 – Passed the Senate and died in the House Agriculture Committee.
SB 1963 would have amended 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 would have prohibited raw goat or donkey milk producers from making cheese with milk or cream produced on their own farm.
Although many bills died in session this year, there is still an opportunity for these bills to be reintroduced next year! Now is the time for any bill that died in session, or was stalled in committee, to get renewed attention.
Legislators will soon be returning from breaks and being crafting the 2025 legislative agenda for bills to be introduced or reintroduced, and it will be critical to begin advocacy on these bills soon in order to have another successful year of legislative victories that promote food freedom.
For a more complete list of bills that did not pass this year, please also look at our earlier legislative update that highlighted our food freedom wins earlier this year. If any of the bills in your state died in committee, died in session, or was vetoed by the governor this year, it isn’t too early to begin to reach out to your representative to push for these bills to be introduced in the upcoming legislative year.