|
Hi Friend,
House Bill 22 (HB 22), also known as “an Act relating to shared animal ownership; relating to the sharing and sale of raw milk and raw milk products” has been scheduled for a hearing in the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee. The hearing is scheduled to start at 8 am on March 30.
Currently, Alaska law allows the distribution of raw milk through the herdshare agreements but the regulation allowing this is interpreted to ban the distribution of any other raw dairy products via herd shares. HB 22 would change that to allow the distribution of all other dairy products through herdshare agreements.
Under the bill “a part-owner of a shared milk-producing animal may share raw milk or a raw milk product produced from the milk of the animal only: (1) with another owner of the animal who has provided the part-owner with at least two means of contacting the other owner in the event of a foodborne illness; (2) if the raw milk or raw milk product is produced exclusively by the owners of the animal; and (3) if the raw milk or raw milk product is provided directly from one owner to another owner.” HB 22 prohibits any person from selling raw milk or a raw milk product. Please help support freedom of choice. Please see action steps below and share this alert with friends and family in Alaska.
Alexia Kulwiec
Executive Director
|
|
|
|
TAKE ACTION #1
Call or email members of the House Community and Regional Affairs Committee asking them to vote YES on HB 22. Calls are best but please do both if you can; it is especially important to call if you are a constituent of any member. You can use any of the Talking Points below. Member contact information is listed at the end of this email.
You may copy/paste the entire to block to email the whole committee:
Representative.Sara.Hannan@akleg.gov; Representative.Calvin.Schrage@akleg.gov; Representative.Harriet.Drummond@akleg.gov; Representative.Josiah.Patkotak@akleg.gov; Representative.Ken.McCarty@akleg.gov; Representative.Kevin.McCabe@akleg.gov; Representative.Mike.Prax@akleg.gov; House.Community.And.Regional.Affairs@akleg.gov |
|
|
TAKE ACTION #2
Testify at the hearing at 8 am on Tuesday, March 30. Call the legislative teleconference phone number below and ask the operator to transfer you into the House Community and Regional Affairs committee meeting for testimony on HB 22.
It’s best to call towards the beginning of the meeting as it sometimes takes a few minutes to be transferred to the meeting. Once you are transferred in, you will be able to hear the proceedings.
When it is your turn to testify, the Chair of the committee will call on you by name, you will be unmuted by the moderator and given an opportunity to speak to the committee. Depending on the number of testifiers, your testimony may be limited to 2 minutes.
The teleconference numbers are:
From Juneau: 907-586-9085
From Anchorage: 907-563-9085
Anywhere else in the State: 844-586-9085
|
|
|
TALKING POINTS
1. The bill would increase consumer freedom of choice by expanding the dairy products consumers can legally obtain.
2. The bill would enable dairy farmers to make a better living by increasing the kinds of dairy products they can distribute to consumers.
3. Raw dairy products have an excellent overall track record for safety.
4. Passage of HB 22 would keep more of the food dollar in the community with the increase in locally produced products consumers can obtain.
|
|
|
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
House Community and Regional Affairs Committee showing District and session phone numbers for each below; for more detail on each member, you can tap links HERE
Email for the whole committee:
House.Community.And.Regional.Affairs@akleg.gov
CO-CHAIR: Rep. Sara Hannan [D-33]
Representative.Sara.Hannan@akleg.gov
907-465-4766
CO-CHAIR: Rep. Calvin Schrage [None-25]
Representative.Calvin.Schrage@akleg.gov
907-465-4931
VICE-CHAIR: Rep. Josiah Patkotak [None-40]
Representative.Josiah.Patkotak@akleg.gov
907-465-3473
Rep. Harriet Drummond [D-18]
Representative.Harriet.Drummond@akleg.gov
907-465-3875
Rep. Ken McCarty [R-13]
Representative.Ken.McCarty@akleg.gov
907-465-3783
Rep. Kevin McCabe [R-8]
Representative.Kevin.McCabe@akleg.gov
907-465-2679
Rep. Mike Prax [R-3]
Representative.Mike.Prax@akleg.gov
907-465-4797 |
|
|
DONATE
If you’d like to make a donation to support the work of Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund to bring you these informative legislative updates and work to improve federal and state laws, please donate HERE. |
|
www.farmtoconsumer.org | 703-208-FARM (3276) | info@farmtoconsumer.org |
|
