Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Lab Grown Meat Regulation topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Conference committee on HB 1425 proposes two-year moratorium, to restore labeling after delay
Summary
The House–Senate conference committee on House Bill 1425 discussed removing a study requirement, extending a moratorium on lab-grown meat sales from one year to two, and restoring labeling requirements at the end of the moratorium; no formal vote was recorded and the committee recessed.
Beau Baird, chair of the conference committee and representative for House District 44, told conferees the committee planned to remove a study requirement from House Bill 1425 and extend the bill’s moratorium on lab-grown meat sales to two years so the state does not overburden agencies amid a revenue forecast.
"And based off of our forecast that we just received last week, things like that are being stripped out of bills," Baird said. He described the conference committee’s intent to "strip the study out of the bill so that we're not putting any, more burden on our state agencies with the forecast that we have." He added the panel would "push out" the moratorium to two years and "add back in the labeling information that left the House version, at the end of that 2 year period." Baird said the two-year window would provide "2 legislative cycles" to revise labeling language if necessary.
The proposed changes were presented as the contents of a draft conference committee report; conferees discussed the plan but no formal motion or recorded vote appears in the transcript. The meeting concluded with the committee going into recess.
Senator Jean Lysen, who identified herself as the Senate sponsor of the bill, and other conferees asked whether the proposed two-year period would unduly hinder businesses working on cultured or lab-grown meat products. "Have you spoken to some Indiana businesses that are working in this space?" Lysen asked, noting the committee had emphasized innovation this session.
Baird responded that, to his knowledge, "we do not have any of this being produced in Indiana," and that the extra time would give the state a runway to understand the product before it enters Indiana markets.
A witness, Sarah Lisonbee, told the committee she had information indicating the current U.S. manufacturing footprint for cultured meat was small: "the last information I have is that there were 2 manufacturing companies in California, but 1 of them now has pulled back their manufacturing and has had significant layoffs." Lisonbee and other conferees said that market contraction elsewhere supported delaying action.
Representative Mike Aylesworth, who said he liked the changes as written, expressed support for using the extended window to study the issue and then reinstate labeling requirements. Representative Justin Moen asked for clarification whether any such products were currently being sold in Indiana; Baird said he believed none were being sold in the state.
Transcript remarks indicate the draft report would (1) remove a study requirement from the bill, (2) extend the moratorium on sales from one year to two, and (3) reinstate labeling requirements at the end of the moratorium if conferees do not alter the House language. The committee did not record a vote on adoption of the draft report during the session captured in the transcript.
The discussion also referenced a recent revenue forecast as a driver for reducing agency work tied to bill studies. After discussion, the chair recessed the meeting; no final action on the conference committee report was entered in the transcript.
