Committee declines to advance 'Tamale Act' after health officials warn of food-safety risks

Representative Lourdes Gonzalez introduced House Bill 11‑90, which she called the "Tamale Act," proposing to amend the state's Cottage Food Act to allow the sale of refrigerated homemade foods outside of licensed establishments.

The bill sponsor said the change aims to help small entrepreneurs, often immigrant families and low‑income households, use home kitchens as a legal stepping stone to brick‑and‑mortar restaurants or food trucks. "I call the Tamale act tamale amendment," Representative Gonzalez said when she opened the presentation, describing the measure as a way to "lower the barriers to entry" for small food businesses.

Supporters at the hearing said the expansion would create economic opportunity. Angel Merlos of the LIBRE Initiative Colorado said the bill would help Hispanic and immigrant entrepreneurs "come out of the shadows" and register as legitimate businesses. Alejandro Flores Munoz described his family's trajectory from selling home‑made desserts door‑to‑door to running a catering business, urging the committee to "open the door for the food entrepreneurs who have been feeding our communities all along." The Institute for Justice's Ellen Hamlet said several states allow refrigerated cottage foods with safety requirements and that reforms often help women of modest means.

Public‑health officials and local environmental health managers opposed the bill or urged caution. Ali Morgan, policy director for the Colorado Association of Local Public Health Officials, testified that CALPHO "is strongly opposed to House Bill 11‑90," saying the change "would put people, especially children, at risk" and that local health agencies are "underfunded and stretched thin." Mike Salter, Environmental Health Manager for the City and County of Broomfield, told the committee: "Plain and simple, expanding the Cottage Food Act as described in this proposed bill beyond its current allowances will lead to significant increases in foodborne illnesses statewide." Arapahoe County environmental health manager Dylan Garrison testified similarly, saying refrigerated foods are "inherently more risky" and that passage would remove safeguards health departments currently rely on.

Committee members pressed the sponsor on enforcement and tracing. Representative Story asked how regulators would ensure safe chain‑of‑custody and temperature control from kitchen to sale. Gonzalez replied that the existing Cottage Food Act requirements—training, food safety certification and labeling—would still apply and that she had offered amendments to require temperature control from production through sale.

Two sponsor amendments were adopted during the hearing. Amendment L001 added explicit temperature‑control requirements and transport limits for refrigerated cottage foods, including requirements that products be held at safe temperatures from the time they are created until sold and that transport not exceed two hours (language the sponsor said was modeled on Arizona law). Amendment L002 delayed implementation to address CDPHE fiscal and staffing concerns; Representative Gonzalez explained the department's fiscal estimate included roughly $200,000 over two years to investigate potential outbreak responses.

After debate and public testimony, Representative Gonzalez moved the bill to the Committee on Appropriations; that motion failed on a 6–7 vote. The committee then took a procedural step to postpone the bill indefinitely. The clerk recorded: "That fails 6 to 7." After a subsequent motion to postpone indefinitely, the committee reported the bill was postponed indefinitely.

Why it matters: supporters framed HB 11‑90 as an economic‑opportunity measure for small, often immigrant and female‑headed businesses. Public‑health witnesses warned that refrigeration introduces significant food‑safety risks and that local health departments lack the capacity and statutory authority to monitor home kitchens.

Next steps: With the motion to refer defeated and the bill postponed indefinitely, HB 11‑90 will not proceed from this committee at this time. Representative Gonzalez said she will continue stakeholder outreach.