Bill In Texas For Legal Home Bakeries! Calling All Texans!
Decorating By kelleym Updated 7 Feb 2011 , 11:14pm by kelleym
Okay Fort Worthans (or DFW-ans), if you are interested in starting a cake group, please PM me your email addresses!
sorry Kellym, wasn't trying to hijak the thread... 
I was just excited there were so many peeps from DFW area. Thanks to you were all coming out of the wood work. 
I'm going to order my HB3282 T-shirt now, then I will sit in the corner for a few minutes...
Once again, Thank you so much for starting the process for the HB.. Your awesome!!!
sorry Kellym, wasn't trying to hijak the thread...
I was just excited there were so many peeps from DFW area. Thanks to you were all coming out of the wood work.
I'm going to order my HB3282 T-shirt now, then I will sit in the corner for a few minutes...
Once again, Thank you so much for starting the process for the HB.. Your awesome!!!
Agreed! Slapping my hand with a ruler as I type. Sorry Kelley! This is just all so exciting! 
3) There was only one point I wished someone would have made in regard to the norovirus. If someone infected walks into a bakery and touches a counter/chair/wall/whatever, then an employee touches that same area and goes into the back and touches food, guess what? That's right. Someone will get sick. Does the health department then demand to test every customer/lookie loo/UPS guy/whoever who has been in that bakery? Hell no, they don't! I kept mentally screaming, "MOOT POINT!! MOOT POINT!!"
I was thinking the exact same thing when I watched it yesterday. I kept waiting to see if someone would make the point you did, but no one ever did. I am sure before it is voted on, the committee will have thought of that since you can't keep sick people from visiting a retail bakery.
hey guys-was Gattis the one who kept talking about how amazing the cake was? I liked him a WHOLE lot.
Smart move taking in some delicious sweets for them to chow down on.No, that was representative Coleman. He was a hoot, even winked at us once after we all said no!
THAT WAS MY CAKE!!!! It was my awesome strawberry cake recipe that won him over! 
WOOT!
The video was so blurry I couldn't tell which Rep said that. *doing the happy cake lady dance*
I called the Reps I visited with over the last few weeks (Coleman, Hadless, Bolton, and Davis) to see if they could give me any feedback but nobody was available. I left messages for their aides. I will post their remarks here once I hear back from them.
Kelley - I'm bummed the meeting tonight was cancelled. I'm totally energized after yesterday's hearing and can't wait to march back up those steps and meet every last Rep in Texas (with more strawberry cakes of course)! BTW, I have a new nickname for you. It's "The General" of our little cake army. I told my mom I was going to boot camp tonight to get my marching orders from the General. LOL. Let me know if you need any help prepping for the interviews. <3 Love you girl!!
Yippie!!!!! Jlynnw, where are you located at? Mommakeef, I'm excited to find more peeps around me too!!!! This is great!!! Anyone else in the DFW area?
Yup! I'm in Mansfield.
Hi neighbor! Youre right near me.
I know. I visited your website and, well, you're my idol
Whaaaaat? 
Wow, thank you!
I was thinking the exact same thing when I watched it yesterday. I kept waiting to see if someone would make the point you did, but no one ever did. I am sure before it is voted on, the committee will have thought of that since you can't keep sick people from visiting a retail bakery.
There were, like, a million things that came up that we wanted to respond to, but keep these things in mind:
My Neighbor The Lobbyist said that we should only choose 3 people to speak.
We each had a 4 minute limit and had our testimony prepared beforehand.
Representative Gattis practically begged us to "be brief" when he opened. (I don't know if you noticed that the hearing went on until 10:30 last night. 
)
It was hard to re-work existing testimony and have it flow appropriately and still not go over the time limit, when we had all prepared our testimony to fit pretty much exactly within the 4 minutes.
I was re-working mine right up until the last minute, and ended up having that little red light blinking at me before I was quite done.
Believe me - I would like to have been up there for 45 minutes, having a detailed discussion with those Representatives and rebutting every single misleading or wrongheaded comment. I even wished they would have asked me more questions!!
I specifically would like to have addressed the fact that Representative Kolkhorst kept saying that we currently had a "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, when really the policy is more like "Don't Tell, Try Not To Get Caught."
Kelley, I understand trying to keep within the 4 minute maximum must have been difficult, but you did a great job with the time you were given. They seem to be reasonable and I am sure they probably have already thought of the football team can make it into the retail shops too, lol.
OK guys , I'm fairly new to this site and have been reading through this post since yesterday.
Well, today I got asked to do a interview for my local paper (I'm in West Texas), I declined and said I don't have a "business" or store front...they then said they would still like to do an article on me talking about just cake decorating and how I got into it....so here is my question..I would REALLY like to make this article about all of this and trying to make Texas legal and let more people knwo. I don't really know enough about it (I've been reading on here and trying ot get caught up!) What are some key points I should let them know to help out??
Sorry I know that is a lot of work to try to list it all out...even if someone could lead me to a link that would give me more info so I could educate myself more on it
OK guys , I'm fairly new to this site and have been reading through this post since yesterday.
Well, today I got asked to do a interview for my local paper (I'm in West Texas), I declined and said I don't have a "business" or store front...they then said they would still like to do an article on me talking about just cake decorating and how I got into it....so here is my question..I would REALLY like to make this article about all of this and trying to make Texas legal and let more people knwo. I don't really know enough about it (I've been reading on here and trying ot get caught up!) What are some key points I should let them know to help out??
Sorry I know that is a lot of work to try to list it all out...even if someone could lead me to a link that would give me more info so I could educate myself more on it
OK guys , I'm fairly new to this site and have been reading through this post since yesterday.
Well, today I got asked to do a interview for my local paper (I'm in West Texas), I declined and said I don't have a "business" or store front...they then said they would still like to do an article on me talking about just cake decorating and how I got into it....so here is my question..I would REALLY like to make this article about all of this and trying to make Texas legal and let more people knwo. I don't really know enough about it (I've been reading on here and trying ot get caught up!) What are some key points I should let them know to help out??
Sorry I know that is a lot of work to try to list it all out...even if someone could lead me to a link that would give me more info so I could educate myself more on it
Wow...sorry about the triple post..my computer is going haywire!
a piece of cake - delores,
I suggest you pm Kelly and see if she can share some of her material that she had prepared already and alter it for yourself. I bet she wouldn't mind.
I am bummed! Does anyone know what zoning a home has to be in to operate a home bakery? I was told that if it is residentially zoned that it is not allowed and I could not get a license or enjoy the benefits of this wonderful bill!
Hey guys! I've been so exhausted and busy since the hearing. I've been keeping up with this thread though.
First I'd like to say that I left feeling positive. I felt the same way the rest of you guys did. The opposition came off um... not well. I believe the committee is on our side.
Boy, did I feel stupid not wearing pink or purple! My thought was "oh, we'll just stop at wal-mart on the way and get shirts". But we didn't get to our hotel until past midnight and were ready to drop. Then the next morning we were running late. We got there just in time for the first part of the hearing. I was the fluffy one in the light teal teacher shirt.
I loved meeting you guys. I am shy, but thankfully most of you are not and were very friendly and just lovely.
I told my husband that the kolache guy reminded me of Foghorn Leghorn (is that his name? the giant chicken from the WB cartoon?) I almost felt sorry for him, he was that bad of a speaker. I had to angrily hush my husband when he laughed out loud at one of his ridiculous remarks. Though, I'm pretty sure I saw rep. Coleman trying to hold back laughter! Did anyone else catch that?!
I'm feeling sad already, though, that I will probably not be able to go to the senate hearing. I felt bad enough asking my boss for Tuesday off. I don't think I have the nerve to ask for another day off for this stuff!
Well, I will keep praying and hoping! Let us not give up! Oh, by the way, how do I get to the archived footage? I had to leave early before the hearing was over (grrr!). Anyone have a link?
-Tish from Texas City
Link to the archived hearing: http://www.house.state.tx.us/committees/broadcasts.php?session=81&committeeCode=410
apieceofcake-dolores - Welcome to Cake Central! Yes, pm kelleym and get all her info. You can also look up info on the website she started www.texascottagefoodlaw.com .
If you don't mind me asking, where in West Texas?
Thank you! : )
I'm in Midland
Hey guys! I've been so exhausted and busy since the hearing. I've been keeping up with this thread though.
First I'd like to say that I left feeling positive. I felt the same way the rest of you guys did. The opposition came off um... not well. I believe the committee is on our side.
Boy, did I feel stupid not wearing pink or purple! My thought was "oh, we'll just stop at wal-mart on the way and get shirts". But we didn't get to our hotel until past midnight and were ready to drop. Then the next morning we were running late. We got there just in time for the first part of the hearing. I was the fluffy one in the light teal teacher shirt.
I loved meeting you guys. I am shy, but thankfully most of you are not and were very friendly and just lovely.
I told my husband that the kolache guy reminded me of Foghorn Leghorn (is that his name? the giant chicken from the WB cartoon?) I almost felt sorry for him, he was that bad of a speaker. I had to angrily hush my husband when he laughed out loud at one of his ridiculous remarks. Though, I'm pretty sure I saw rep. Coleman trying to hold back laughter! Did anyone else catch that?!
I'm feeling sad already, though, that I will probably not be able to go to the senate hearing. I felt bad enough asking my boss for Tuesday off. I don't think I have the nerve to ask for another day off for this stuff!
Well, I will keep praying and hoping! Let us not give up! Oh, by the way, how do I get to the archived footage? I had to leave early before the hearing was over (grrr!). Anyone have a link?
-Tish from Texas City
Hey Tish, I really wanted to talk to you more. Hope you can make it to the senate hearing (fingers crossed!). If you explained the whole short notice situation to your boss would that make a difference? Maybe if it is somewhat expected, it won't be so... uh, unexpected? I'm a dork.
Kellym
When your done with Texas Come on over to Georgia, We need a cottage law here to.
I am bummed! Does anyone know what zoning a home has to be in to operate a home bakery? I was told that if it is residentially zoned that it is not allowed and I could not get a license or enjoy the benefits of this wonderful bill!
Just curious, but where did you hear this? My gov't prof is an urban planner for SA (she handles zoning, building plans and codes, and all that good stuff) and I specifically asked her about zoning and all that and she said state law trumps local.
The City of San Antonio. I am not sure what department it was because it was a couple of years ago but they said that even if home bakeries were allowed in San Antonio I still couldn't have one in my home if it wasn't zoned for a bakery even if I do not have walk in customers. He said it applied to all commercial type operations in a residential zone. I hope you are right!
The City of San Antonio. I am not sure what department it was because it was a couple of years ago but they said that even if home bakeries were allowed in San Antonio I still couldn't have one in my home if it wasn't zoned for a bakery even if I do not have walk in customers. He said it applied to all commercial type operations in a residential zone. I hope you are right!
I hope so too! I do think it would've been best if that had been addressed in the bill, JUST to eliminate any doubts or future problems, but it wasn't. Oh well.
ETA: Really? Who's house is going to be zoned for a bakery? Duh. Stupid San Antonio.
When I opened my in-home, licensed bakery in SC, the neighborhood was residential. We were able to get a waiver for two reasons... every 3rd house in our neighborhood was operating some sort of business out of it! 
) And... we were able to get our neighbors to sign something that stated they didn't mind the foot/car traffic, which is one of the primary reasons for zoning and home businesses. Sometimes they'll ok an exception, but tell you that you can't put out signage and that you'll have to deliver the cakes rather than pick-ups, or some other restrictions. Check with your local zoning commission and see what they suggest. All is not lost... yet! ) Stay positive - you never know what'll happen!
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