Agriculture, Forestry & Economic Development - Senate

Committee to order. If y'all want to make your way in and have a seat, uh, feel free to do so. I know we're kind of odd on our timing, but, uh, you know, we're doing the best we can trying to get everything done, OK. Passing over, uh, Senator Johnsonfield, uh, House Bill 1048. Can I get a copy please? 48 I'll take you. Senator Clarke you're presenting House Bill 1048 for Representative Cooper, if you would turn your mic on, identify yourself, and you're recognized. Uh State Senator Alan Clark district. 7 When you've been saying 1 for 10 years. takes a while for older people to, to remember the new number. Ready? You're you're, yes, Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I apologize that I have not visited with most of you about this bill. Uh, it's a follow up, uh, from 2013 and 2013, I was on this committee. Uh, and we legalize the selling of raw milk, uh, but you had to sell it at the farm. And people have discovered that the farm is often 50 miles out in the country, uh. And makes it difficult for people to get there makes it difficult for the farmer and so this bill legalizes the selling of raw milk at farmers' markets, uh, health food stores, etc. And also for farmers to deliver it. There has been no opposition up to this point. On this bill, uh, Farm Bureau opposed it 12 years ago, as did the health department, uh, neither one of them are in opposition, uh, this time. And um. I'm not going to tell you. I am not, I love raw milk. Uh, I'm not going to Not advocating for anybody else to drink it. This is for people who have looked at it, know what they're doing, uh, and I'm not going to tell you that raw milk can't make you sick. And that it can't kill you. Because it can, uh, the best studies I have seen, uh, was from a group who are not for drinking raw milk, uh, from 1998 to 2018. And, uh, During that time, there were 2600, uh, that's 21 years. There were 2600, uh, illnesses, uh, and 3 deaths. That's 1, every 7 years and across the country, uh, pasteurized milk was 2100. Got sick and 3 deaths. Uh, just to give you one measuring stick. The, uh, the food, this won't surprise you the food that causes the, uh, food poisoning the most, which kills people, is poultry. I want to continue to eat chicken. Uh, and the, the second is leafy vegetables. Uh, and y'all can have the leafy vegetables, but uh you, you, you can make those illegal if you like. Uh, but Just to give you some comparisons, uh, 380 children. Drown in backyard pools every year. We still. Want to keep backyard pools legal. Uh The CDC says that over 80,000 people get sick from eating raw oysters. Love raw oysters. Uh, and that 100 die compared to one every 7 years. Uh Tylenol. 500 deaths a year. Aspirin 5000 deaths a year. Ibuprofen, my favorite pain reliever, 16,000 deaths a year. Uh, raw milk, one every 7 years. So yes, there is a danger. Uh, but you're more likely to be killed in a car wreck. And we're not going to outlaw cars, uh, we're not even going to lower the speed limit to 35 miles an hour on the freeway because less people would die because it's not practical and we're all terminal. Uh, we're all going to die of something. Uh, it's not very likely that it's going to be raw milk. I'd be happy to take any questions. Larry. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, Senator Clark, I like oysters, rare beef, so, you know, I have no problem with foods that might be unsafe, but I do have just one question. I mean, I plan to vote for this, but after reading the bill, um, now that raw milk could be available, uh, away from the farm that it will, it will be labeled that it's raw, right? Nobody's gonna accidentally buy this and thinking that they are getting pasteurized milk. No, it will be, you know, there is a market for raw milk and uh it will be labeled. OK. Thank you. Gilmore. Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, Senator Clark. Look, I, you know, I'm, I'm sort of where Senator Leding is, which I think people ought to assume that's a very rare occurrence, honestly. Um, you know, I have, I have major concerns about the bill. I intend to vote for it because again, I think people ought to have the right to choose. I love raw oysters, and I get to eat up raw as many rawers as I want. I have concerns about the bill just, just for obvious reasons, um, so I'm glad to hear my question was going to be his, but I also think it's fair state, um, that, you know, all the statistics that you gave and things you gave, you know, I think it has to be considered, uh, you know, economy of scale and, and all of those, right? So, uh, you know, I don't know how many people in the United States drink, uh, raw milk, 30 million? OK. So, Uh, I So the health department had no concerns on this bill at all. Is that what I heard? None that they've voiced to me. They uh they uh they're not 4, they're neutral, they're neutral, OK, OK. Uh, do you know how the, do you know how this will be disclosed to the buyer? Is it, is it a, uh, I don't know if I heard correctly, is it a label? Is it a verbal? How is it disclosed I believe that's in the previous law. OK, Senator Gilmore, I did not go back and look, but I would it be in this coach section that's listed here? I believe so. OK, I'll, I'll go look at that. I may have follow-up questions. Senator Dima. Yeah, so it's a similar question. I'm, I mean, I'm fine with Bill in general, uh, my question would be, what if, I mean if someone gets sick. I mean, is it required labeling it just at least to the source of where the raw milk came from, and essentially that would allow You know, if, if there was something wrong. there would be a way to trace it back and make sure that other buyers or whoever, not track down the buyers, but everyone could be aware that there was an issue with this. I, I believe there is, but. I'm not prepared to answer that question. I don't know that there's anybody else here who may be, uh, but I'm not prepared to answer it, but I would agree with you, it should be, uh, because where it comes from and how clean they are is all important. Could, could that be established in rules from the health department and and the reason I say that, uh, I, I have a lot of sweet potato growers back home and, and they sell sweet potatoes, it may go to, uh, uh, Chicago, and they'll have a tag on that sack, and they can tell you which box out of which field, out of which acre that came from to trace back an outbreak of disease, and I'm, uh, and I guess what I'm asking is, is, is that something that would, could be put in, in, uh, rural establishment rule from the health department. Instead of, uh, turn you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. And so my, my concerns are a little more assuaged in the sense that I just read the code section and it does establish the name and address of the farm with the following statement, um, that lists that it's, you know, whole milk and not pasteurized. You, you answered the question. That's what Senator Hickey. Yeah. Just, just want to make sure I 100% understand this, uh, And again, I don't know that they have an issue with it. I thought I understood whenever you were presenting it to you said that, of course, that it would, uh, allow the farmer. To transport the milk, which I believe that to be so, but the way it's written, does, would it not, if there was a third party delivery or the, I assume they would be allowed to do it also. And I guess my only thought of that there is, is, If that's our intent, then that's our intent. I just didn't know if we might need to add some more language as far as at that point, who would accrue the liability or, uh, something to that nature because of, uh, if that was not stored correctly, you know, via the travel or whatever to that nature. So that's my only thought is the way it's written, I think everybody would agree that the farmer, you know, if he's in, if he's in, Has it from this point and has it from that point, then he's accruing all the liability, but if there is a third party, uh, involved, I just don't know if we Need any type of additional language, so, just more of a thought than anything, Senator Clark. I appreciate the thought and uh uh safety is paramount. Uh, I would say when, uh, buying again drank raw milk all my life, always know where I always knew where it came from, uh, I knew, uh, you know, dad grew up milking cows and, uh, normally if there's a problem with milk, it's uncleanliness, uh, at the farm or the dairy, uh, and, uh. So Uh, I would say buyer beware. Hm Any other question? If not, we're in silence. No one signed up. Anyone in the audience wished to speak for against this bill. Signon and censure Clark, would you like to close close and appreciate a good vote. Will committee to pass 2. All in favor say aye, all opposed say no. Oh OK. Senator Gilmore, you recognize? Look, uh, and again, I think I've already stated, um, where I am and I tend to vote for this bill. Um, I appreciate Senator Clark bringing up buyer beware. Look, um, I believe people have the right to consume what they want to consume. I mean, I've, I've drank raw milk myself. I think it's something that you need to be very careful with. I mean, one of the reasons that we have pasteurization, I can go back through the history of Louis Pasteur and well that's a thing, and maybe not so do I. Yeah, well, so maybe, maybe, you know, things are a little bit different from his time in the sense of the cleanliness of, of dairies and things of that nature. But look, the reality is there are a lot of things that can grow in, in milk and products like this. And so, um, I just think we need to be careful with these bills, um, you know, my dad, for instance, spent 12 days in ICU with Listeria at UAMS. He survived, as you pointed out, most people do, um, not without a lot of issues. He's now a type one diabetic because of that. Um, so there's a lot of, there's a lot of things that can come from this. So, I just hope as we go down this path, again, I'll be voting for the bill just because I believe in giving people the opportunity to have and consume what they want, but I think we need to be careful as we continue down this path, uh, that we, we properly label things. We have these healthy debate. get some discussions. And so with that, I'm not going to belabor the point anymore, but thank you for the latitude, Mr. Chair. Any other discussion on the motion? If not, we have a motion 2, all in favor of the bill. Say ay, all the folks say no Bill pass, congratulations. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you. OK, going on to House Bill 1149 represent Vault. Are you in, you in the room? Is anyone here to run House Bill 1149? Seeing none, we'll go on to House Bill 1220. Representative Steele. Letting, if you would please identify yourself for the record and you're recognized her. Thank you, Mr. Chair. State Senator Greg Gluting from the great city of Fayetteville, and there is an amendment to 1220. OK. Yeah everybody got the amendment amendment simply adds me as a required Senate sponsor since all House bills now have to have Senate sponsors. All right, so in favor of the amendment, say aye. All polls say no. All right, we'll present the bill as amended. Thank you, Mr. Chair, Mr. Vice Chair, members of the committee, the Arkansas Natural and Cultural Resources Council was founded in 1987. Uh, I was in the 3rd grade, uh, in 2019, uh, it was transferred under the parks department and the 6 of the 7 voting members were all, uh, some of the titles were updated to reflect changes under transformation. They were also given the ability to select a designee, um, the commissioner of State lands, who's also a voting member, was for some reason not allowed to select a designate. So that's all this does is give them the same powers as the other 6 voting members. have a question? See no one in the audience wished to speak for or against this, uh, bill as amended. Signon really close you. I'm closed and I would move due pass as amended. Got to do pass motion 2nd, all in favor say aye. All the folks say no. Committee, uh, Tuesday, we're gonna take a committee photograph and so let, if we're all here at the beginning of the committee meeting, we can get that done and out of the way in case y'all need to go somewhere else. If someone's not here, we'll, uh, wait toward the end of it, OK? We're adjourned.