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There’s a bit of bad news for raw milk drinkers. You’ll have to continue the trips out to the farm for your creamy elixir fix.
Currently Texas law stipulates that raw milk can only be purchased on the farms where it is produced. A bill introduced this legislative session, HB 46, would have changed that and allowed farmers to sell milk in a few other places, like farmers markets. In a great sign of hope, last month the bill passed out of House Public Health Committee and since has been waiting for a specific date to dance on the House floor for a vote.
But, it had one more obstacle to overcome: It had to actually get on the calendar via the Calendars Committee. This virtual bill holding cell is just like any other committee, but the members have a questionably heavy handed authority on deciding what goes on the calendar and what doesn’t. If they don’t want to give a bill a date, they don’t. And that bill dies.
Representative Sarah Davis of Harris County, who is on the Calendars Committee, voted against the bill when it was in the health committee. Drawing any connections there?
I spoke with her today and she explained that not any one person can decide to keep a bill in committee. It takes at least four. But, she also has some overriding concerns about the dangers of raw milk, particularly how it’s transported and stored. Based on information “from the medical community it can be very dangerous,” she said.
Scott Reitz wrote about those fuddy duddies earlier.
