# Texas Cottage Bill



## Rader Sidetrack

Looks very reasonable to me. Hopefully you can get it pushed through.


Do you have a legislator that has indicated that he/she might sponsor this legislation, of are you still looking?


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## mgstei1

Texas Beekeepers Association and a Legislative Council in Austin will present it.
It has my backing and at our next County association meeting we will be discussing the exemption proposal.


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## ChuckReburn

Two parts in it give me concern:

"SELLS or DISTRIBUTES the honey that the beekeeper PRODUCES either personally or with the help of the beekeepers immediate family"

This is a prohibition on using "help" = no friends, other beekeepers, mentees. In the yard, it would likely go untested but I may need a friend to help with sales at a big Christmas market. The commercial packer that hires a kid to sell "his local" honey at the market now has the basis for a formal complaint.

and the proposal lacks an allowance for honey to be "delivered at a location designated by the consumer."

Like bringing it into work, or dropping a few bottles of at a repeat customers house that's on your way into town.


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## mgstei1

ChuckReburn said:


> Two parts in it give me concern:
> 
> "SELLS or DISTRIBUTES the honey that the beekeeper PRODUCES either personally or with the help of the beekeepers immediate family"
> 
> This is a prohibition on using "help" = no friends, other beekeepers, mentees. In the yard, it would likely go untested but I may need a friend to help with sales at a big Christmas market. The commercial packer that hires a kid to sell "his local" honey at the market now has the basis for a formal complaint.
> 
> and the proposal lacks an allowance for honey to be "delivered at a location designated by the consumer."
> 
> Like bringing it into work, or dropping a few bottles of at a repeat customers house that's on your way into town.


Tx's!!
I sent this on to the proposal Team!!


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## SansTX

How would other products of the hive work? 

My daughter was interested in selling lip balm in the neighborhood. Is that considered a food product?


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## Christina

SansTX said:


> How would other products of the hive work?
> 
> My daughter was interested in selling lip balm in the neighborhood. Is that considered a food product?


Lip balms are not considered food and fall under FDA cosmetic guidelines.

I agree with ChuckReburn. We use high school helpers at markets. It would be helpful if they could help with honey sales (if we ever have enough extra to sell.  )


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## ikswokjag

Fyi, we've been discussing the proposed legislation here, as well: http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?251267-Texas-Honey-House-Laws-or-Production-Laws 
There are links on that thread to the bills that have been introduced last week to the legislature and who sponsored the bills. 
My personal stance is that I support HB 3764/SB 1766. I do not care for HB 2600 and do not feel honey should be grouped in with cottage food. There have been some beekeepers opposing small scale honey sales exemptions from heavy regulation. It looks like the ones opposed are those that are growing their honey production to the point of being a business. Some have followed the current law and obtained honey houses and permits. Others think that these bills will remove their current legal standing to sell honey. What they don't understand is that 1.) The interpretation of current law is that no sales are permitted without food manufacturers license and honey house (the precedent is set and no way around this unless new laws are passed creating exemptions for small scale production) and 2.) The true small scale producers are hobbyists and not at the sideliner/commercial level. It's my understanding that the exemption is targeted to help the hobbyists. The hobbyists are not a threat to the sideliners or commercial folks. If you grow your hobby to a business level, then at that point the natural progession would be to construct the honey house and obtain permits to continue to grow. This exemption allows hobbyists to fund their hobby and stay at the hobby level or be able to grow into a small business. It's not designed to be a loophole for a stand alone honey business.


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## thebbc

Thanks for posting


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