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Senate panel amends meat-labeling bill to add cultured dairy products and curtail outside-counsel spending authority
Summary
House Bill 1153, intended to clarify last year’s meat-labeling statute, was amended to add cultured dairy products and to replace a 'special fund' designation with the general fund; an amendment removing language that allowed the department to hire outside counsel (charging fees to a deficit appropriation if the attorney general declined) was also adopted.
The Senate committee advanced House Bill 1153 with two substantive amendments after sponsor explanation and member questioning.
The chair introduced the bill as a clarification to last year’s meat-labeling law and said the department requested clearer enforcement language. The chair also said the bill "adds sale culture[d] dairy products to the bill." Senator Barry moved an amendment to add language stating a "food product is not misbranded" in a specific section and to strike a reference to a 'special fund' on line 222 and replace it with the 'general fund.' The committee adopted that amendment by voice vote.
Senator McConn then raised a separate concern about language that, as drafted, would allow the department—if the attorney general declined representation—to hire outside counsel and have fees paid from a deficit appropriation (language appearing around line 200). McConn proposed striking the text from the word 'if' through the period on line 204, arguing the committee should not give the department unchecked authority to retain counsel and obligate future legislative repayment. "We don't usually give carte blanche authority out there to just go hire anybody you want to do this and then tell the legislature, you've now got to pay us back," McConn said, and he moved the amendment. The motion to adopt McConn's change carried.
With both amendments adopted, the committee voted the bill 'do pass strike all as amended' and the chair announced the bill 'carries.' The transcript includes no roll-call vote; all actions were resolved by voice vote recorded by the chair.
The committee’s changes: (1) broaden the consumer-protection labeling language to cover cultured dairy products, (2) move a funding reference from a special fund to the general fund, and (3) remove the clause that would have authorized the department to hire outside counsel with fees charged to a deficit appropriation if the attorney general declined representation. The removal of the outside-counsel language was adopted in response to concerns about unchecked spending authority; the transcript indicates the committee will not immediately create an alternate enforcement spending mechanism and may revisit the issue in a future session if necessary.
