House bill would raise license-exemption threshold for small food producers to $30,000

House Rep. Jonathan Cooper, Bennington-1, told the House Agriculture committee he is sponsoring legislation that would increase the gross annual receipts threshold that exempts small food manufacturers and home bakeries from licensing fees and routine inspections from $10,000 to $30,000.

Cooper said the change is intended to advance “food resilience,” a priority he said the General Assembly has emphasized, by making it easier for sole proprietors, women and new Americans to sell baked goods and other low-risk food products without the time and cost that licensing and inspections can impose. “Food resilience is something the General Assembly has prioritized,” Cooper said.

Supporters argue the change would let more Vermonters operate small commercial and home-based food enterprises and keep more dollars circulating in the state economy. Cooper told the committee current state fee schedules place a $10,000 exemption for commercial operations and a $6,250 threshold for home bakeries (calculated at roughly $125 per week). Under current fee bands, about 100 commercial establishments above the lowest tier generate roughly $20,000 a year in fees, and about 100 home bakeries generate about $10,000 a year; Cooper described the combined revenue impact of raising the thresholds to $30,000 as “de minimis,” roughly $30,000 annually.

Cooper said he and staff contacted the Food and Lodging program for inspection and violation data; he said staff were told they would need until March 10 to supply detailed data on violations and severity among businesses that might be freed from inspections under the proposed thresholds. He also said the fee schedule was last adjusted in 2015.

Committee members pressed Cooper on details the bill does not yet specify, including how gross receipts are measured (Cooper said the statutory threshold is based on annual receipts and does not deduct business expenses), which food types would be included, and whether common local outlets such as farmers markets and village stores would be affected. Cooper said the bill would cover commercial bakeries and non-bakery food manufacturing under the commercial threshold and would continue to limit the home-kitchen exemption to bakery products (predominantly flour-based items), noting baked goods present a different public-health risk profile than ready-to-eat items such as chicken salad.

The committee also discussed alternatives and safeguards. Cooper said the health department’s initial advice had been cautionary: raising the cap from $10,000 to $30,000 could raise public-risk exposure, and the agency had suggested starting with very low-risk products such as candy. Members asked whether the threshold could be indexed to inflation; Cooper said he would welcome Joint Fiscal Office guidance on that approach. He also said he expects language edits when the bill is reviewed line-by-line.

No formal motion or vote was recorded during the committee exchange. Cooper said the bill will likely be reviewed by the health department and referred to Ways and Means and Human Services for jurisdictional review before advancing.

Next steps noted in the hearing: committee staff will request inspection and violation data from the Food and Lodging program (data expected by March 10), and committee members indicated they will seek input from business proprietors who sit near the current thresholds, as well as from legal counsel and the Joint Fiscal Office. The bill’s text may be revised to address health concerns and to consider indexing thresholds to inflation.