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Committee approves amendment and passes bill clarifying sale of raw milk products
Summary
The Senate Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Committee approved an amendment adding an emergency clause and passed S.B. 464, which defines "raw milk products," adds natural food stores as permitted sellers and reduces required sign size for vendors.
The Senate Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development Committee on May 20 considered S.B. 464, a bill that clarifies which products made from raw milk may be sold and where they may be offered. Sponsor Allen Clark, introduced the measure and the committee approved an amendment adding an emergency clause, then passed the bill by voice vote.
S.B. 464 defines “raw milk products” to include items that use raw milk or raw cream as an ingredient, listing butter, buttermilk, cheese, cottage cheese, kefir, yogurt, colostrum and “other derivative products.” The bill also adds "natural food stores" to the locations authorized to sell those products and reduces the size of the required consumer notice from two feet by four feet to 18 inches by 24 inches.
Senator Allen Clark, the bill sponsor, said the measure is primarily about cheese and that the changes are intended to give consumers more access. "This just allows people who want to buy these products to buy them," Clark said during his closing remarks, later noting the bill’s supporters compared the public-health risk of raw milk to other everyday risks.
The committee adopted an amendment described by staff as adding an emergency clause. The amendment was approved by voice vote; a subsequent motion to pass the bill also passed by voice vote. The committee record shows the measures passed on voice votes; no roll-call tally was read into the transcript.
The bill text places retail and signage requirements in statute and expands the list of retail locations that may sell raw-milk–derived items. The emergency amendment adopted at the meeting was presented to the committee as a simple emergency clause; committee members asked no substantive questions about policy while voting on the amendment.
The bill will proceed according to Senate rules. The committee record does not include a roll-call vote count in the transcript excerpts and does not state whether the sponsor intends additional amendments on the floor.
