Louisiana Cottage Food Law--La Home Bakers Please Read
Business By AtomicBakes Updated 29 Jul 2013 , 5:01am by T-Lew
The Louisiana Baker's Bill (Cottage Food Law) (SB18) is going before the Louisiana State Senate in less than two weeks. Here is the link for more information: https://www.facebook.com/louisianabakersbill .
If you are a home based baker in Louisiana and you want to sell your product LEGALLY, then please email your state (not US) Senator and your state (not US) Rep and let them know that you want them to support SB18, the Louisiana Baker's Bill. The bill is very simple and allows cakes and cookies to be sold by home bakers. It is currently illegal in the state of Louisiana to sell baked goods made in your home kitchen. I am not the owner of the Facebook page or the originator of the bill, but I have not seen anything posted about this on here and I wanted to let all the other Louisiana cakers/cookiers know about it. It goes before the Senate first, so you have less than two weeks to email your Senator. I just wish we had a cool emblem like the Texas Cottage Food Law........
Thanks Atomic for posting this. I surprised compared to other states that this hasn't been on CC more.
The bill is so simple....I am confused. I know some states are very specific about what they can bake and if they can or cannot sell for wholesale. The only thing I understand is that our annual sales limit is $50k...which is very generous compared to other states. Can someone read it and tell me what it says! LOL....I expected the bill to be more lengthy and detailed, I guess......Jason??????????
http://legiscan.com/LA/text/SB18/id/785177/Louisiana-2013-SB18-Introduced.pdf
Thanks Atomic for posting this. I surprised compared to other states that this hasn't been on CC more.
The bill is so simple....I am confused. I know some states are very specific about what they can bake and if they can or cannot sell for wholesale. The only thing I understand is that our annual sales limit is $50k...which is very generous compared to other states. Can someone read it and tell me what it says! LOL....I expected the bill to be more lengthy and detailed, I guess......Jason??????????
http://legiscan.com/LA/text/SB18/id/785177/Louisiana-2013-SB18-Introduced.pdf
Wow, with a $50,000 limit?? That is a lot of cake! How would one do that in a home kitchen? Sounds like a nightmare!
A
Original message sent by ddaigle
Thanks Atomic for posting this. I surprised compared to other states that this hasn't been on CC more.
The bill is so simple....I am confused. I know some states are very specific about what they can bake and if they can or cannot sell for wholesale. The only thing I understand is that our annual sales limit is $50k...which is very generous compared to other states. Can someone read it and tell me what it says! LOL....I expected the bill to be more lengthy and detailed, I guess......Jason??????????
Right now it basically says that you can sell cakes and cookies from home without any health dept oversight if you sell under $50K gross per year. Since you have to report all income to the Dept of Revenue, they will rat you out to the health dept if you make over $50K.
You also can't sell "unwholesome" food. I have no idea what that means.
The first changes will probably be a more detailed definition of "cakes and cookies" disallowing any potentially hazardous products, reducing the $50K income cap, and possibly adding restrictions for wholesale sales.
A
Original message sent by Annabakescakes
Wow, with a $50,000 limit?? That is a lot of cake! How would one do that in a home kitchen? Sounds like a nightmare!
I agree with Jason, it will have things added to to it, maybe not on the initial pass (but probably). I do think that "unwholesome" is too open to interpretation, I would guess at some point that will be defined, as it is in many other states, to mean non-perishable (so nothing that requires refrigeration). If that happens, do your homework. Some of the things that you may think are perishable may be able to be made shelf stable. The Texas cottage food law page has a recipe for cream cheese frosting that has been tested and approved to be shelf stable. As far as selling wholesale, while this law doesn't state that you can't do it, it is my understanding (and I may be wrong), that restaurants and stores cannot buy your product because they are required to be inspected by the health department and cannot sell items that are not subject to inspection. I really need to find out more about this part, because I am not entirely sure about it and well, let's face it, this is Louisiana and logic does not apply here. I am surprised that there aren't stipulations about labeling requirements like I have seen in other state's laws. Thanks, Debbie, for giving this a bump. I was starting to think that you and I were the only Louisianans here.
A
Original message sent by ddaigle
That's why I'm thinking with that kind of limit....we won't have the refrigeration/filling restrictions that other states. **fingers crossed**
It's my understanding that the Dept of Health and Hospitals has been sitting in on meetings leading up to the drafting of the bill. They already had them remove some things (I think it originally said baked goods, but they changed it to cakes and cookies because they wanted to exclude bread). I'm guessing if they won't let you bake bread, they probably aren't going to be too keen on cream fillings.
I agree with Jason, it will have things added to to it, maybe not on the initial pass (but probably). I do think that "unwholesome" is too open to interpretation, I would guess at some point that will be defined, as it is in many other states, to mean non-perishable (so nothing that requires refrigeration). If that happens, do your homework. Some of the things that you may think are perishable may be able to be made shelf stable. The Texas cottage food law page has a recipe for cream cheese frosting that has been tested and approved to be shelf stable. As far as selling wholesale, while this law doesn't state that you can't do it, it is my understanding (and I may be wrong), that restaurants and stores cannot buy your product because they are required to be inspected by the health department and cannot sell items that are not subject to inspection. I really need to find out more about this part, because I am not entirely sure about it and well, let's face it, this is Louisiana and logic does not apply here. I am surprised that there aren't stipulations about labeling requirements like I have seen in other state's laws. Thanks, Debbie, for giving this a bump. I was starting to think that you and I were the only Louisianans here.
I was born and lived most of my life in Baton Rouge (right off of Drusilla Lane) and now I'm in Mississippi but only 6 miles across the state line and still keep one foot in my beloved Louisiana!! So glad to know some of my fellow CC'ers are Louisianians!
That bill certainly leaves much to the imagination. I'm sure they're going to add some of the same restrictions as the other states have but, this is Louisiana... so who knows. We'll have to wait and see! What day does it go before the senate?
A
Original message sent by ddaigle
Yippee...Thanks Manddi...I wonder what the process of time is...from cradle to grave on these types of bills. Anyone know how long we should expect to wait until it is final (if approved, that is).
Depending on how your state works, once the bill passes the senate the process may also need to be repeated in the house. Once it passes the house it is sent to be signed by the governor.
It looks like the LA legislative session is pretty short (April 8th through June 6th), so if it is not passed by June 6th it will have to wait until next year. If it is passed this year it would go into effect August 1st.
The bill currently up for a vote in Oklahoma began the process Feb4 in the house. It finally made it to the Senate Mar 11 and has been sitting on the agenda waiting in queue ever since.
We can watch live feeds of the senate and house and it's been an experience that makes me furious! I knew politicians didn't do much, but never realized how little they really do.
Our worthless legislators don't convene until 1:30 every day- session usually lasts an hour while they pass resolutions to acknowledge this or that event. They took a week off for spring break, then the next week a 4 day holiday for Easter. The session ends May 31st.
At this rate, they'll never get to this bill and if the session ends, the bill dies.
Good luck, hope your lawmakers are a bit more motivated to actually accomplish something than ours are.
Well, Justme, that's depressing. I hope ours goes better/faster than Oklahoma. I am tentatively taking orders for the summer, with the understanding that it depends on the bill (ok, two orders, both from people I know, but, hey, I'd love to sell them a cake--legally). At the moment I can't even legally donate cupcakes to a fundraiser for the non-profit business where I am employed. What's next, busting up lemonade stands? 
I thought I'd post an article for those interested in learning more that I ran across about Roxane Daigle, the author of the bill http://povhouma.com/heres-your-second-chance-fancy/ .
Oh, and I got a call this morning from a reporter for New Orleans City Business. She came across this thread and was looking for more info. I referred her to Roxane and she just posted on the Facebook page that she gave her a phone interview. Hopefully it's a positive article. I can understand where some bakeries might be against cottage bakers, but truthfully I think that a lot of cottage bakers are probably doing a good bit of the PITA work.
Hi ladies. My name is Roxane and my FB page is https://www.facebook.com/FANCYCAKES58?ref=tn_tnmn
I am the author of the LA Cottage Food Law Bill and the administrator for the cottage food law page on FB. I would be very happy to answer any questions at all you may have concerning the bill.
Atomic Bakes, it is a very positive article. What are your concerns??
the bill is pending health and welfare committee. I will most likely speak at that hearing. Once it passes there, it needs to go to Senate Committee, then Senate for voting, then house committee, then house for voting. It needs to pass each of these avenues, then on to the Governor for signing. It would become effective August 1, 2013
AWow thanks so much for posting this I want to see where this goes! Fingers crossed it gets passed!!
Roxane--I don't have any concerns per say about the article, just saying that I hope it is a positive article. That doesn't mean that I necessarily think it won't be. She sounded genuinely interested and as she works for a paper that is about small businesses, I would expect that it would be positive. I believe that I was the first call she made because she didn't have much info at the time and I pointed her in your direction because the sum total of my knowledge and supposition is contained in this thread.
As you can see from the comments, we (like everyone else on your Facebook page) are interested in the details and how we will need to change to adapt to it, In my case, I delayed making cakes for the public when I found out on here that it wasn't legal--it never even occurred to me, like many others I thought "it's just cake". So while I have been practicing on friends and family I have been working out the kinks in recipes that I hope to use when the law passes. When I started reading other states' laws I tossed out the pudding mousse recipes, too perishable. I despaired of making cream cheese frosting until I read the Texas Cottage Food Law webpage and saw their tested recipes (not as good as mine, but mine hasn't been tested and likely has too high a water content for shelf stability). Until we find out the juicy details, it's hard to know what we will and will not be able to make. Maybe it will pass as is, but I'm sure even if it does that things will be added/changed at some point. I know the key now is to get it passed and iron out the kinks later.
AThe bill that I was asked to author was 3 pages long. It addressed many many issues. After meeting with the dept if health and hospitals senator ward and attorneys condensed the bill to what SB18 is as of now. Dept of health has agreed to remain neutral in this and not oppose it. As far as the income cap, there are only ten states that have an income cap. I asked for no cap, but the senator and arty felt we should put a cap on it to assure its passage. I believe 50000 is very reasonable. As far as the contents, ingredients and such. No puddings, etc that require refrigeration. However I did not specify anything about ph and water content as other states have done. If that is in the bill then ALL recipes have to be tasted. We do not want that. Like I said, the bill I authored had many many points in it concerning labeling, Internet sales, etc etc. I have to trust that the senator and his team of attys know what they are doing. I am certain lots of these issues will be addressed in hearing which I plan to address to the committee. My goal is to get by with as few restrictions as possible. We have to start somewhere. Right? It's further along then it has ever been for the state of LA. I am doing my best to keep everyone's interest in mind and in heart as I move forward with this. I don't plan on letting any of you down. Remember, I am one of you. Lets pray this will work out to our advantage. Godspeed to all of you!!
AGosh excuse the spell check. I am on my smart phone and it is not very smart! :)
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