Washington State Senate Bill 5748 "cottage Food Law&quo
Decorating By FH_Cakes Updated 27 Jun 2011 , 9:35pm by Spuddysmom
In the hearing you may want to request clarification in the bill that specifically allows cottage food establishments to deliver orders directly to customers, the current bill is a little nebulous on that.
Interesting that there is an annual $5K gross sales limit, that seems low.
jason_kraft
The $5000 limit is the first subject I plan to address, most other state are between $15,000-$20,000.
The $10 fee is also very low, if they don't agree to raise the income limit you may want to propose a graduated fee system (or just increasing the baseline fee), where cottage food businesses with higher incomes pay more per year.
So I read the proposed bill and all, but there is one part that I was unclear on. "An exemption under this section does not affect the application of any other state or federal laws or any applicable ordinances enacted by any local unit of government." Does this mean that counties can still say that you have to use a commercial kitchen? I called the Spokane County Health Dept. just a few days ago and they had no clue about the Cottage Laws, lol!
So I read the proposed bill and all, but there is one part that I was unclear on. "An exemption under this section does not affect the application of any other state or federal laws or any applicable ordinances enacted by any local unit of government." Does this mean that counties can still say that you have to use a commercial kitchen? I called the Spokane County Health Dept. just a few days ago and they had no clue about the Cottage Laws, lol!
That line is probably meant to allow municipalities (and counties for unincorporated areas) to apply zoning laws to deny home-based commercial activity if there is a zoning issue, even if the cottage food law applies.
I am happy to report the bill has passed Agricultural committee and is now onto the rules committee. Senator Rockefeller sits on this committee as do others that were on the ag committee. He is confident this will pass with no problem, now is the time to get our Senators Involved. There are 49, so far I have support from:
Senators: Becker, Chase, Delvin, Hatfield, Haugen, Honeyford, Rockefeller and Schesler.
Please PM me if you need additional info!
Find your local senator here:
http://apps.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/Default.aspx
I sent an e-mail to all of them actually. I have gotten a couple of responses, mostly from assistants saying they'll keep my thoughts in mind when it comes time to vote. I will say that Rep. Ed Orcutt responded personally and he is very eager to see this pass, we had a nice dialogue 
Also, the new wording looks like they decided to go with $15k for the sales, but I'm good with that.
I sent an e-mail to all of them actually. I have gotten a couple of responses, mostly from assistants saying they'll keep my thoughts in mind when it comes time to vote. I will say that Rep. Ed Orcutt responded personally and he is very eager to see this pass, we had a nice dialogue
Also, the new wording looks like they decided to go with $15k for the sales, but I'm good with that.
Thank you for your support. I was able to get them to increase to $15,000. Any higher is going to take alot of effort from all of us....but hey, it's better than the $5000 they started out with! I am excited they are so open to negotiating the bill, thank you again for helping!
Yeah, when I first read your post it had said $18k and I didn't see the edit. I was actually ok with the 5k limit because I don't think I'll be able to make much more than that due to time restrictions, but I'm glad they raised it for others who would be working more and on bigger projects. I'll be doing my best to make simple cakes around my one year old's schedule, and I never want to do wedding cakes, lol. At least not with small children around, waaaaay too much stress from too many sides! Also Sen. Rockefeller said that he hopes to see the bill enacted during this session, which would be so awesome! I have everything ready to go for when(if) it passes. *Fingers crossed*
I've have a yes from Senator Linda Evans Parlette and Represenative Gary Condotta. And I've asked my family and friends to contact their senators and represenatives to support this bill. Keeping my fingers crossed.
Fantastic! Thank you
I also got a response from Sen. Rockefeller about that ambiguous paragraph relating to local government codes. Apparently they have a meeting with the Health Dept. on Monday to clarify that a bit, since it wouldn't make much sense to pass this if the counties can still make contradicting rules.
Do you have to be a business if you are covered by the Cottage Food Laws? For instance would you want to have an LLC or Sole Proprietorship with insurance in case somebody wanted to sue you for whatever reason? Or are the consumers not allowed to bring suit? I want to be prepared 
I am setting up as a business and I wouldn't feel comfortable without insurance. Such a small investment $350-$500 per year for that piece of mind. Especially if you are selling beyond your cirlce of friends. I'm not willing to put my personal assets at risk which is why I'm also going the seperate business route v sole proprietor. Felicia great work! We can all make this happen!!!
I've been tracking the bill on the state website. I asked a friend of mine who used to work for the state with committees funding and whatnot how the rest of this process works. Apparently there are a ton of steps left after this rules committee reads it and it all has to get done before the session ends in April because when they are out of time, whatever is not done is just left behind. So hopefully this gets a move on! It still has to get approved for a floor reading and debate, voted yes by the senate, move over to the house committee for this topic, get voted yes, go to the house rules committee, get a yes for a floor reading, then get voted yes by the house... if anything changes in the bill along the way, it goes back to the senate for approval, too. After all of that, the governor has to approve it. My friend said that in the last few years, the governor has vetoed any bill that has a new fee for the public attached (ie, the fee for filing as a cottage industry), but who knows if she's still doing that or not. Seems silly if the people are willing to pay the fee to be in business.
I was glad to see the limit raised to $15k, too.
[quote="Larkin121"]I've been tracking the bill on the state website. I asked a friend of mine who used to work for the state with committees funding and whatnot how the rest of this process works. Apparently there are a ton of steps left after this rules committee reads it and it all has to get done before the session ends in April because when they are out of time, whatever is not done is just left behind. So hopefully this gets a move on! It still has to get approved for a floor reading and debate, voted yes by the senate, move over to the house committee for this topic, get voted yes, go to the house rules committee, get a yes for a floor reading, then get voted yes by the house... if anything changes in the bill along the way, it goes back to the senate for approval, too. After all of that, the governor has to approve it. My friend said that in the last few years, the governor has vetoed any bill that has a new fee for the public attached (ie, the fee for filing as a cottage industry), but who knows if she's still doing that or not. Seems silly if the people are willing to pay the fee to be in business.
We still have a really great shot at getting this through the 2011 session, if it dies we will then pick up where left off for 2012. I really don't think the Govenor will veto this since it is only $10! All the Senators and State Reps so far are supportive, everyone feels by the end of the legislative session (2011/2012) this will become a law!!!
Keep spreading the word...the more power we can get behind this the faster it will move through the process!
The system is designed to kill legislation. Theoretically this makes it so that only worthy laws are passed. It doesn't always work that way, but that is the intent. Just keep trying, no matter what happens this time.
What is certain is that it will die without support, so call and write your Senators and Representatives to let them know you're behind it!
I only recently found out about this bill and I am so excited and would like to do whatever I can to support it. I live in Franklin County and I am currently in the process of building a new house with a separate kitchen built according to the health department codes and if this bill is going to change some of the expensive requirements they have, I will wait for the bill to pass. I will write my senators as you all have suggested and will follow this closely. If any of you have more information to pass along, it is greatly appreciated.
[quote="FH_Cakes"]
I've been tracking the bill on the state website. I asked a friend of mine who used to work for the state with committees funding and whatnot how the rest of this process works. Apparently there are a ton of steps left after this rules committee reads it and it all has to get done before the session ends in April because when they are out of time, whatever is not done is just left behind. So hopefully this gets a move on! It still has to get approved for a floor reading and debate, voted yes by the senate, move over to the house committee for this topic, get voted yes, go to the house rules committee, get a yes for a floor reading, then get voted yes by the house... if anything changes in the bill along the way, it goes back to the senate for approval, too. After all of that, the governor has to approve it. My friend said that in the last few years, the governor has vetoed any bill that has a new fee for the public attached (ie, the fee for filing as a cottage industry), but who knows if she's still doing that or not. Seems silly if the people are willing to pay the fee to be in business.
We still have a really great shot at getting this through the 2011 session, if it dies we will then pick up where left off for 2012. I really don't think the Govenor will veto this since it is only $10! All the Senators and State Reps so far are supportive, everyone feels by the end of the legislative session (2011/2012) this will become a law!!!
Keep spreading the word...the more power we can get behind this the faster it will move through the process!
I sent a message to my Senator and Reps. tonight and received a very nice response back from Rep. Walsh who is supporting this bill. I hope to hear back from my other Representitive and Senator very soon.
Thank you all for the support, I just got word that Senator Rockefeller pulled the bill from the Rules Committee to the Senate Floor. It should be voted on anytime! There have been some ammendments made to this bill by the Agricultarual Dept, State Health and Health Dept...this was to ensure the passage of the bill though the Senate Floor. They are minor changes...don't worry. I will post the complete ammendments as soon as I get them!
Everyone be thinking positive over the weekend...Monday is our deadline to get this passed onto the House
Here are the changes: http://apps.leg.wa.gov/documents/billdocs/2011-12/Pdf/Amendments/Senate/5748-S%20AMS%20....%20S1985.1.pdf
I know some of us are not happy to see these changes made, but we all need to be thankful that at least we are given the opportunity to have a cottage foods law in our state. It is always possible to change it down the road!
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