Friday Legislative Update
On January 11 the 2nd general session of the 68th General Assembly convened and started its 120th session. Things down at the Colorado State Capitol have got off to a fast start with more and more bills from legislators arriving every day.
Like always, Farm Bureau is sifting through the mountains of bills to find the ones that could have an impact on agriculture or rural Colorado. So far in the few short days the legislature has been in session Farm Bureau has taken a position on over 20 bills, with more coming every day.
A couple that are our main focus at the moment are SB-048 Creation of the Colorado Cottage Food Act, and HB-1037, The Classification of Certain Ag Inputs as Wholesale.
SB-048 is sponsored by Sen. Schwartz. CFB and the senator have worked through the summer to develop new language that addresses our original concerns. The Colorado Cottage Food Act would allow a person to produce nonhazardous food, including spices, teas, dehydrated produce, nuts, seeds, honey, jams, jellies, preserves, fruit butter, and baked goods (including candies), in their home kitchen for sale directly to consumers at farmers markets or other similar venues. The bill addresses Farm Bureau’s main concern over food safety by requiring a label that includes the name and contact information of the producer, ingredients, and a warning that it was produced in a home kitchen. This bill will help our members turn their produce into locally made products with minimal burden to them.
Representative Becker is sponsoring HB-1037 which would classify certain ag products as wholesale items. In 2010 the legislature passed a bill repealing the sales tax exemption for these products. Last year the tax exemption was reinstated. This bill will exempt these items from sales tax by classifying items used in agricultural production as wholesale. This is a great bill that will protect your operations bottom line and keep farmers business in Colorado. The bill is scheduled to be heard in the House Ag Committee on Jan. 30th.
These are just two bills that Colorado Farm Bureau will be working to pass during this legislative session and there are always more on the way. To see more bills that Colorado Farm Bureau has taken a position on, you can follow their progress on our bill tracking list to keep up to date. You can also follow the happenings at the Capitol here in the Newsroom or follow us on Facebook or @agrilobby on Twitter.
