When I talked to legal they were going to just get a spot to continue to work on the wording for the actual bill. I am so uninformed as to how all this political stuff works. When they have a hearing, is that something that we go to or is it just for the politicians?

I assume that your hearing would be a public hearing like ours.

How can there be a hearing, though, if the bill has no text?

Good point! Let me email Eric again and see what is up.

I followed the link to the bill and this is what I found.....

BILL SUMMARY
2nd Session of the 52nd Legislature

  Bill No.:  HB2771
  Version:  FULLPCS1
  Author:  Representative Proctor
  Date:  2/24/2010
  Impact:  OSDH: $191,300

Bill Summary

Research Analyst:  Arnella Karges

The proposed committee substitute for HB2771 creates the Home Bakery Act of 2010, requiring persons who operate a home food establishment to obtain a license from the State Department of Health. The measure defines a home food establishment as a business in a residence where food is prepared for sale, for consumption off-premises, if annual sales are less than $20,000. An exception is provided for food prepared for sale by churches, fraternal societies, charitable or civic organizations.

The measure limits the Department to issuing 1,000 licenses each year, at a cost of $75 for each license. Home food establishment licenses are good for two years and are renewable. The measure authorizes the Department to inspect home food establishments, during reasonable hours, for only those areas related to preparing food for sale. The measure authorizes the Department to promulgate rules for implementation of the act and provides penalties for violations of the act.

Fiscal Summary

Fiscal Analyst:  John McPhetridge

HB 2771 as introduced, creates the Home Bakery Act of 2010, and prohibits the operation of home food establishments without a license from the Department of Health (OSDH). The bill creates a two year license fee of $75, and limits the number issuable licenses to 1,000 per year. The bill provides for periodic inspection by OSDH and provides a fine for violations of the act: up to $1,000 for first conviction, and up to $2,000 for subsequent convictions..

Fiscal Analysis

OSDH anticipates an annual cost of $228,800, to institute the licensing and regulation associated with HB 2771. The cost includes salaries and benefits for four inspectors ($207,200), travel ($16,800) and equipment/supplies ($4,800). OSDH estimates licensing fees will provide the agency annual revenue of $37,500. The net fiscal impact of HB 2771 is estimated to be $191,300.

Long Term Fiscal Considerations
None


Fiscal Analysis Reviewed By: House Fiscal Director

and......

Economic Development and Financial Services Committee
2009-2010 Regular Session HOUSE BILL2771 Home Based Bakeries Act
Proctor
DO PASS AS AMENDED BY CS PASSED
YEAS:14 RCS# 99 NAYS:0 2/24/2010
C/P :0 11:19 AM
YEAS: 14
Auffet McDaniel (R.) Ownbey Sullivan
Carey McNiel Peters Key
Faught Moore Shelton
Liebmann Morgan Shumate
NAYS: 0
CONSTITUTIONAL PRIVILEGE:

Okay, I read it all, but what does it mean I'm not good at the legal mumbo jumbo

It looks like Home Bakery Act of 2010, passed with a vote of
yeas = 14
no = 0

"requiring persons who operate a home food establishment to obtain a license from the State Department of Health." (cost is $75 for a two year license)

"The measure defines a home food establishment as a business in a residence where food is prepared for sale, for consumption off-premises, if annual sales are less than $20,000. An exception is provided for food prepared for sale by churches, fraternal societies, charitable or civic organizations."

"The bill provides for periodic inspection by OSDH and provides a fine for violations of the act: up to $1,000 for first conviction, and up to $2,000 for subsequent convictions."

Right now, it looks like this bill has passed committee. However after reviewing the bill that has been posted, I don't think that was what home bakers in Oklahoma wanted. To me, it looks like it does more harm than the good it was intended to do. The moral of the story is to be careful what you wish for.

This is definately not a completed bill. What are your objections?

I don't see what the objections would be either. To me, it means health department gets to be involved so everything is safe, and the ones that aren't can be fined. Is there something else I'm missing that I should be upset about...

The bill itself is still to be written. All that was passed was for the financial committee. There will be much more when the actual bill is introduced. I have emailed Rep. Proctor to find out what the next step is. I will let everyone know when I hear from him.

I have no objections to a Licensed home based kitchen bill allowing individuals the right to baked in their own homes and sell bake goods. I have enjoyed baking and cake decorating for over 32 years. I've even had a licensed kitchen at one time and know the pros and cons of having your own business. It is a lot of work!! I realized that I couldn't raise a family, keep my children happy and bake to my heart's content. I had to make a choice and it was my family. I'm just concerned that the State of Oklahoma's government doesn't have the money to provide the services that this bill will require of it. They are laying off State Employees and slashing department budgets. Also the Health Department is going to set the parameters for inspection and I would imagine that a lot of requirements would be like a commercial kitchen. Also noted that there were preliminary restrictions on how much income you could make. Then you have to worry about the fees and zoning regulations in a town. Please remember that you have to pay state and city sales tax too.
I pray and hope that a law can be passed that will meet the needs of everyone who wants to do this!

i also have a concern with the limiting the amount of money you can make per year--$20,000. i don't quite understand the reasoning behind that. if you go over, you get fined? and if you earn that much in the first 6 months, you're done for the year? bakeries certainly aren't limited as to how much they can make... it'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

Rep. Proctor said the $20,000 limit means less restrictions and less requirements. That means we would not have to have commercial appliances etc. I make 0 dollars a year now doing this. I would be tickled to death with $20,000.

aaah, i understand the reasoning now. thanks for the info.

I'm confused about the limit of issuing 1,000 licenses each year. Do they count a renewal of a license toward that 1,000 limit? If so, then it would seem that as of the second year, there could never be more than 2,000 licensed home bakers at any given time. I have no idea if there are that many Oklahomans interested in selling cakes from their homes but with my luck, I'd be the 2,001th person to apply for a license if I ever decided to do so.

If the responses I get from posts on CC are any indication, there aren't that many.

I am concerened that there are going to be too many restictions so that is may be almost impossible to get offial. I would love to have a home bakery but not if it is going to cost me as much as starting a shop.

We are trying to get this with a minimum of restrictions so that it will benefit those of us who want to bake and sell but can't afford the expense of a storefront bakery. Eric said that is why the $20,000 a year amount is in there. More money=more restrictions.

I just learned of this and at first was very excited about it, but having read the limitations, I can't support it.

The 1000 limit is completely unfair. Why should my next door neighbor get to bake at home, yet I can't because she got licensed faster than I did? There is simply no reason to put those limitations on the bill.

I'm currently licensed by the state, but I'd love to be able to do this at home and not have to deal with all the rules and regulations that were put on me. As it is now, I deal with decorating cakes having to use a freezer to chill with because I have to have a commercial refrigerator and can't justify the several thousand dollar expenditure. I'm also looking at having to replace my commercial oven and pay for electrical upgrades in order to do so...again, many thousands of dollars in expenses for what is a very small operation.

So..put me in competition with a home baker who doesn't have to meet that rule, yet I can't get licensed if I don't make the cut???? No..not fair.

We can still make changes to this bill. I can check and see what it would mean to change that number. I ask about the $20,000 and Eric said that we could change that but it would mean further requirements. Sometimes you have to compromise and get most of what you want and work on changes later. Personally I just want to get this passed this year and not have to wait. How many licenses would be enough?

I wouldn't want any limitations. Why should there be? Let the market decide how many is enough.


I agree completely with the 20k per year limit. If you're making more than that in profit, you're not a little home baker trying to earn extra grocery money, you're a business. You're also baking a fairly large volume of cakes and that brings in the question of just how much a home kitchen can safely produce.

I am vehemently against let's just pass anything. We've done that in this state over and over again, much to our detriment..horse racing...and best ever..the lottery that was going to fund our public schools. Yet now, we're laying off teachers, going to 4 day school days, shuttering local schools....


No, let's pass one, but make it right when we do. Quite often, something is not better than nothing.

All that said, I so admire you for trying to make changes in our outdated system. I do fear your strongest challenge is going to come from the larger established bakeries who have fought this sucessfully for years. They are a powerful force and I wish you luck!

After giving it some thought, I think I remember Eric (my rep) telling me the number 1000 was determined after getting a number for Health Dept. requirements for licensing. There have to be enough inspectors to adequately inspect the people requesting to get a license. There had to be a number to figure the amount of funding needed. It is a money thing. I hate that but that's the way it is. We have to be able to justify the need and how much it will cost.

Thanks for the explanation, I assumed that the 1000 limit was in order to cap the costs of what would appear to me to be a very heavy handed and cumbersome system. It seems as though they're trying to keep the same inspection patterns they do for commercial bakeries without the expensive requirements that now exist.

That leaves the system inherently flawed. No other state I know of caps the number of licenses that can be issued and I don't believe we should either. If everyone who wants to meet the criteria can't be licensed, no one should be and I can't support a bill in this form.

This bill, it seems to me, hits the licensed home baker harder than anyone else. A small time home baker is truly not a threat to large established bakeries. But they are a threat to those of us who are small time licensed home bakers, who have all the overhead and expenses of the large bakeries, but don't do the volume they do. We will be in direct competition with homebakers who have virtually no overhead at all.


Without the limitations, we're all on the same playing field. With them, we aren't. As it is, this proposal suggests we should spend $200,000 dollars so that 1000 people in Oklahoma can bake cakes at home. That just makes no sense to me at all and a waste of taxpayer money that is seriously needed elsewhere.

I'll be writing and calling my congressman, but unfortunately in opposition to the bill as proposed.

You cannot be a small time licensed home baker now in the state of oklahoma. That is what this bill is trying to do.

Justme50 probably does have a licensed kitchen attached to her home. She has probably spent a lot of expense and time doing this just so she will be legal to sell her baked items in Oklahoma. She probably pays the higher commercial rate. There are a lot of women in my area of Oklahoma who baked in their home kitchens. They don't advertise and usually get custom baking jobs by word of mouth or through friends. Also there are at least 5 women that I know, that have licensed commercial kitchens attached to their homes or in a building on their property.

It all has to start somewhere. For those of us unable to have a licensed home bakery this is our way to be able to do that. I'm not sure where you are, but in Tulsa OK and most places that I am aware of, it is illegal to bake and sell from your home.

That is all well and good if you can afford to do that or if you have a house that is set up for that. What we want is for people that just want a little business in their home. No commercial equipment no separate kitchen. I'm sorry if you feel you cannot support this but I know that it would be helpful for many ie. mom's with small children trying to suppliment income without having to put children in daycare and retired people trying to make a few extra dollars. People in these groups don't have the money to have a special home kitchen but can have a kitchen inspected and licensed by the HD. They would pay taxes and have insurance just like you have to. There is a place for everyone. Sorry if you feel you can't be supportive.