CA Economic Summit: California homemade food law opens up tasty small business opportunities

BY ALEXANDRA BJERG

Did you ever open a cookie stand hoping to rake in enough cash from sales to sympathetic neighbors to purchase the latest toy? If you answered yes, up until last year, you were breaking the law (!).

That's right, selling homemade food made in unlicensed commercial kitchens was prohibited, unless for charity, by statutes and local ordinances, many of which had been unchanged since the 1920s. Two San Francisco children even had their brownie stand shut down for lacking the appropriate permits.

But thanks to a new law that went into effect January 1 of this year, AB 1616 or the California Homemade Food Act, the sale of certain homemade foods to grocery stores, restaurants, and even directly to customers has been legalized.

In 2011 the Los Angeles County Health Department shut down baker-turned-activist Mark Stambler's small-scale bread-making business after the Los Angeles Times published a profile of Stambler and his homemade award-winning bread. Upon reading the story and learning of the numerous regulatory barriers faced by cottage food entrepreneurs, Stambler's Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake), seized the opportunity to help aspiring artisan food makers legally develop small food businesses and stimulate the local economy by authoring AB 1616.

The legislation, signed by Governor Brown last fall, is designed to "remove the red tape that confines our local governments and to assist micro-entrepreneurs who want to enter the food production business but do not have the time or money to spend on a long, drawn out permitting process," said Gatto. "Creating a legal structure for the safe, in-home production of certain foods that respects the importance of public health is a sensible approach that will spark more economic activity in our local economies and in California."

The law makes it easier for aspiring entrepreneurs to launch food production businesses by removing traditional barriers to entry, such as the often crippling cost of rent, limited access to commercial kitchen space, and a burdensome permitting process intended primarily for large-scale retailers and producers, and allowing for the sale of "non-potentially hazardous" homemade foods.

Approved products include breads, cookies, granola, churros, jams, dry roasted nuts and many more delicious goodies. Sorry bacon lovers, unfortunately, most foods that require refrigeration such as meats, cheeses and custards, are not covered under the new law.

California joins a growing list of more than 30 states with similar legislation already on the books, none of which have reported any incidents of foodborne illnesses resulting from the sale of these items.

But don't start peddling Grandma's famous Snickerdoodles just yet.

To address public health concerns, the legislation includes a number of provisions that will ensure food is safe and free from contaminants. Cottage food operators (CFOs) will be required to register with the local Department of Public Health for a small fee, complete a food-safety course and pass an exam, currently in development by the California Department of Public Health, label products as homemade, and submit to a kitchen inspection verifying adherence to sanitation standards.

Having been issued one of the first permits under the law, Mark Stambler has already fired up his wood-burning brick oven and is legally baking his blue-ribbon bread for fellow Angelenos to purchase and enjoy.

With California's unemployment rate hovering just below double digits, 9.8 percent, the law is great news for residents looking for alternative ways to supplement their income.

"Starting a small food business is a solution that many refugees of the economic crisis turn to because many people are capable of making food," said the Executive Director of Sustainable Economies Law Center (SELC) Janelle Orsi in a statement, whose organization helped Gatto draft the bill.

Reducing the number of regulatory hoops entrepreneurial foodies must jump through to start a food production business provides home cooks with the opportunity to turn some spare time and a hobby into a business. The ability to forgo steep startup costs allows budding food entrepreneurs to test the waters in a relatively low-risk way before making costly investments in equipment or commercial kitchen space.

Additionally, purchasing locally sourced food rather than name brands bolsters the local economy by guaranteeing a larger proportion of sales revenue is reinvested in the community.

Large-scale producers have nothing to fear. Annual revenue is capped at $35,000 for 2013 and will rise to $50,000 by 2015, to ensure these micro enterprises remain neighborhood-based activities.

Seeking to cultivate and unlock California's entrepreneurial spirit, the California Economic Summit has prioritized streamlining regulations that would stimulate small business and economic growth. The California Homemade Food Act is an example of how thoughtful modernization of outdated regulatory processes can trigger local economic development by fostering innovation and reinvigorating neighborhood economies.

Anyone need a freelance taste tester?

You can read the rest of this article, and more, at the California Economic Summit blog HERE

Watch a video of the story behind AB 1616, and Assemblyman Gatto's fight to protect and entrepreneurs HERE
Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto

Celebrating One Month of Homemade-Food Businesses in California - Caron Ory

A taste of home-kitchen-based business

Fountain Valley woman's class will help cottage food entrepreneurs digest state rules to get started.

January 21, 2013|By Jeremiah Dobruck, Los Angeles Times

Caron Ory has developed a sugar alternative called Eco-BeeCo
and she will teach a class at Orange Coast College
about how to develop and sell cottage-industry food products.
(Scott Smeltzer / Daily Pilot)

When Caron Ory's father was diagnosed with diabetes and struggled to stop eating sugar, the trained dietitian told him not to worry.

"I'll create something for you," she promised.

Through two years of research, trial-and-error recipes and taste tests, Ory came up with Eco-BeeCo, a natural sugar alternative with a tad of freeze-dried honey that passed her requirements nutritionally and her father's gustatory muster.


But when Ory wanted to share her product outside of family and friends, she ran into a hurdle.

To sell the product she'd developed in her home kitchen, California law required her to contract with a commercial kitchen to produce it.

Instead of building a small market and gradually making the transition to large-scale distribution, Ory had to invest $35,000 to blend 6,000 pounds of Eco-BeeCo without ever having sold a pouch of it.

"I spent thousands, and it was a big, big, big risk," she said. "I didn't even know my product was a big seller, and here I am blending 6,000 pounds."

But that hurdle recently disappeared.

Last fall, Gov. Jerry Brown signed Assembly Bill 1616, a law allowing Californians to make and sell certain non-hazardous foods out of their kitchens. Foods that don't include cream or meat, such as bread, fruit, baked goods, jarred goods and dry mixes — like Eco-BeeCo — could all bypass commercial production and be sold straight out of a home kitchen, according to the law.

When Ory learned that the relaxed requirements would start Jan. 1, she looked for a way she could help others get their products off the ground without making the upfront investment she had.

"Everybody has a signature recipe that they make and people rave about," Ory said.

So, on March 2, Ory, a Fountain Valley resident, will teach a class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa about AB 1616 and the business of starting a cottage industry out of a home kitchen.

She'll outline the new law and guide students through the basic business side of things, including product assessment, pricing and packaging.

After the class, students will still have to apply for a permit and take a basic food-handling course to get state approval. Ory hopes she can be a mentor to her students as they go through that process.

"With the state of California, it's kind of like a moving target right now because it's a new law," she said.

Celebrating One Month of Homemade-Food Businesses in California - Jennifer Huerta

This week, we're celebrating one-month of homemade foods by profiling cottage-food producers from throughout California.  While many people think of trendy neighborhoods like San Francisco's Mission or Los Angeles' Silver Lake as the only places where cottage food industries thrive, as I have looked around the state I have found homemade food business almost everywhere. 

Today I'm profiling a cottage food entrepreneur from California's great breadbasket, the central valley city of Visalia, and home-jelly artisan Jennifer Huerta.  The article below is an excerpt from a larger article on Ms. Huerta and AB 1616 that appeared in the Visalia Times-Delta.  I wish her all the best as she continues producing delicious home-made jams and jellies.

Tulare County 'cottage' food businesses appreciate new state law

After months without a job and dried up unemployment benefits, Jennifer Huerta was looking forward to the start of the new year, and with it, the start of a new law for “cottage” food businesses.

Huerta, a Visalia mother of four, said she heard about the California Homemade Food Act last year, before Gov. Jerry Brown in September signed it into law...

...Huerta can’t afford to lease a kitchen or to pay for somebody to watch her three youngest children while she’s out making jellies, so the new law will allow her to earn some income by starting a home-based — or “cottage” — business, Jams by Jen.

“I can be home with my children, making a living,” said Huerta, who lost her job as a finance officer after her family’s staffing business shut down in September 2011 because of the poor economy. Huerta couldn’t find another job and while she’s been out of work she learned how to cook jams and jellies, inspiring her idea to start a home-based business.

“I’m just really excited to go out into the community to sell something different and homemade,” said Huerta, who has 60 jars of jelly neatly stacked on shelves in her home office. She can’t sell them yet.

She hopes that will change after Tuesday, when the Tulare County Board of Supervisors is expected to approve the registration and permit fees that would allow Huerta and others to start their cottage food businesses here.

Before the new law — California Assembly Bill 1616 — took effect Jan. 1, food prepared in private homes couldn’t be offered for sale or used in food businesses, including restaurants. The new law “requires a cottage food operation to meet specified requirements relating to training, sanitation, preparation and permissible types of sales,” according to the report...


...“Providing people with the opportunity to make and sell these foods directly to their neighbors at the local farmer’s market or through the specialty shop up around the corner is a matter of access to opportunity,” stated California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles, who wrote the bill, in a news report after California’s governor signed it into law in September.

It goes on to say the bill should promote neighborhood commerce and help “micro-entrepreneurs” start businesses.

“Now, cottage food producers will be permitted to produce and sell every-day foods such as breads, tortillas, dry roasted nuts and legumes, cookies, granola, churros, jams, jellies and other fruit preserves to their communities,” Gatto’s statement continues...

...The state isn’t paying for the counties to register and oversee cottage food businesses, so each can set its own fees based on the projected costs. In Tulare County’s case, the supervisors will consider on Tuesday whether to set the Class A registration fee at $175 a year and the Class B fee at $291 a year.


“Wow, that’s high,” said Huerta, adding that she has been in touch through Facebook with other people looking to start cottage food businesses in other parts of the state, and they have heard of Class A registration fees being as low $62...

...Despite the cost, Huerta said she plans to register as a Class A cottage business, because she plans to sell her jams and jellies on her own and get customers by word of mouth...

# # #

You can read this entire article and more at the Visalia Times-Delta HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto

Celebrating One Month of Homemade-Food Businesses in California - Melissa Bain

This week, we're celebrating one-month of homemade foods by profiling cottage-food producers from throughout California.  While many people think of trendy neighborhoods like San Francisco's Mission or Los Angeles' Silver Lake as the only places where cottage food industries thrive, as I have looked around the state I have found homemade food business almost everywhere.

Yesterday we traveled to the border to visit Riverside County's Patty White and Leah Delyte DiBernardo.  Today, I'm going back up to NorCal, Marin County to be specific, and profiling Larkspur resident Melissa Bain.  A former database programmer, Ms. Bain recently became the first resident of Marin County to obtain a cottage food license, for her business "Blissful Treats."  The article below is an excerpt from a larger article on Ms. Bain and AB 1616 that appeared in the Marin Independent Journal.  I wish her all the best as she continues producing what appear to be delicious cookies and baked goods.

Larkspur woman opens first permitted residential kitchen in Marin

Whipping up batches of cookies and cupcakes is more than a hobby for Larkspur resident Melissa Bain. Her apartment kitchen was recently dubbed the first permitted residential kitchen in Marin, thanks to a new state law that took effect Jan. 1.

Within the past two weeks, Bain has set up shop in her kitchen with the intent to bake treats for the wholesale and retail markets. Selling her goods would've been illegal prior to the passage of Assembly Bill 1616, which allows Californians to make and sell certain foods from their kitchens.

Bill supporters say it will allow people who don't have access to a commercial kitchen or can't afford one to sell their home-baked goods.

Bain, 39, said she had learned about the new law in December after deciding that her work as a database programmer wasn't enough to keep her busy. She made some confections for her friends and asked them whether she should go into business.

"I got so much positive feedback from it," Bain said.

After procuring a business license for "Blissful Treats," taking an online food handlers' course and having her kitchen looked at by a county health inspector, Bain is ready to make her favorite salted caramel chocolate cupcakes for widespread consumption.

She said she was surprised to learn she's the first one in the county to get one of the permits.

"I truly thought other people would be jumping on the bandwagon," Bain said.

She said the process has been fairly straightforward, but involved filling out a large packet of paperwork for the county's environmental health services department. This included determining how much each product costs to make and what to sell it for.

"It's a perfect exercise for individuals to figure out if they really want to do it," Bain said.

Bain is focusing on cupcake flavors like white chocolate coconut and carrot cake. Some of her favorite cookie flavors include ginger molasses, rose water cardamom, chocolate peanut butter and oatmeal raisin.

"I try to keep things a little bit on the simple side," Bain said.

Dave Smail, supervising registered environmental health specialist, said Marin officials have been busy reviewing the new law and developing guidelines. He said it will be interesting to see how many people are waiting in the wings to get a permit and start their own businesses.

"The goal of this law was to bolster micro-economies," Smail said...

...Bain said she'll be happy when she makes her first official sale.

In the meantime, she's been busy baking cookie donations for WildCare, a wildlife rehabilitation center in San Rafael, where she volunteers once a week.

 "I'm trying to keep myself entertained," Bain said.

If all goes as planned, Bain will soon have a long list of clients and her own booths at multiple farmer's markets. She said baking gives her a chance to exercise different skills than those used in her information technology job.

"I wanted to tap into the creative energies a bit," Bain said.

# # #

You can read this entire article and more at the Marin Independent Journal HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto

Celebrating Homemade-Food Businesses - Patty White and Leah Delyte DiBernardo

This week, we're celebrating one-month of homemade foods by profiling cottage-food producers from throughout California.  Yesterday we saw a cottage-food business in the Northern California town of Oroville.  Today I'm looking to the opposite end of the state, to Riverside County's Patty White and Leah Delyte DiBernardo.  The article below is an excerpt from a larger article on AB 1616 that appeared in the San Diego Union Tribune.  I wish Patty White and Leah Delyte DiBernardo  the best as they continue producing healthy homemade food options for our communities.

State opens way to sell food from home kitchens

By David Downey - Jan. 25, 2013

Temecula resident Patty White makes her chocolate-covered peanut clusters at home and sells them at area farmers markets. She was one of the first people to obtain a permit from Riverside County to sell goods baked in a home kitchen. — Don Boomer

For years, Patty White has been making delicious treats for holiday gatherings.

“I make chocolate peanut clusters," White said. "And the recipe is my great-grandmother’s. Everybody loves it and asks me how I make it, and I’m not going to tell them.”

After losing a managerial job in cellphone sales last year, the Temecula woman in her 50s is making the sweet and crunchy desserts for more than family. For the last couple of weeks, she has been selling half-pound bags of clusters at area farmers markets.

White said she has had difficulty finding another job despite a long career in sales. And the state's new cottage food law gave her an opportunity to earn income doing something she enjoys.
Assembly Bill 1616, or the California Homemade Food Act, took effect Jan. 1. The law opened the door for entrepreneurial-minded Californians such as White to sell a limited range of food products made in home kitchens...

...A lot more will be sought once people get wind of the program, said Leah Delyte DiBernardo, co-owner of E.A.T. or Extraordinary Artisan Table in Temecula.

E.A.T. is both a catering business and seller of locally produced food. And DiBernardo said she sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown last year urging that he sign Gatto's bill.

Until now, local food producers have had to rent certified kitchens and obtain insurance in order to sell homemade food, DiBernardo said.

"We’ve been renting our kitchen the past few years to people who are doing this," she said. "We did it at a lower cost to support these people, because renting a kitchen can cost anywhere from about $25 to $70 an hour.”

By authorizing production on home stoves, the law is saving people thousands of dollars, she said.

"I think that it’s really important because we have taken such a huge step back from supporting local artisans," DiBernardo said. "This is actually something people have been fighting for, for more than a decade.”

Since the first of the year, 15 to 20 calls a week have been pouring in from people interested in selling homemade food, said Gale Cunningham, market administrator for Farmers Market Management Company Inc.

Cunningham's firm sponsors four farmers markets: one in Murrieta, one in Corona and two in Temecula.

At the moment, she said, every selling slot is spoken for.

As for White, the former cellphone saleswoman, she was one of the first to obtain a permit from Riverside County -- for selling those chocolate-covered peanut clusters.

White said she sold half-pound bags for $6 the last two weekends at farmers markets in Menifee, Canyon Lake and Corona.

“The response has been just great,” she said.

White said the treats come in three varieties of chocolate: milk, white and dark.

As for the original cluster crafted by her great-grandmother, it came with milk chocolate, White said. But she said that's as far as she will go, in revealing the top-secret recipe.

You can read this article and more at the San Diego Union Tribune HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto

Celebrating One Month of Homemade-Food Businesses in California - The Chaffin Family

This week, we're celebrating one-month of homemade foods by profiling cottage-food producers from throughout California.  Today we're profiling the Chaffin Family, small-business owners in Oroville, CA and recent recipients of a license to sell food produced in a home kitchen.  The article below is an excerpt from a larger article on AB 1616 that appeared in the Chico News and Review.  I wish the Chaffin's the best as they continue producing healthy homemade food options for our communities.

Chico News and Review - Jan. 31, 2013 

By Christine G.K. LaPado-Breglia 

“...The primary thing that AB 1616 offers us is … being able to do things with dried fruit, you know, like chocolate-dipped, for gift packs and things of that nature,” said Chris Kerston, managing partner at Oroville’s Chaffin Family Orchards (go to www.chaffinfamilyorchards.com to learn more), in a recent telephone interview.

Chaffin Family Orchards' Chris Kerston (Left) and Butte County Public Health Environmental  Health
Director Brad Banner, shown here at the Chaffin farm, are please with Assemblyman Gatto's new bill - AB 1616.
Photo by Claire Hitkins Seda / Chico News and Review

Chicoans are familiar with Chaffin Family Orchards’ permaculture-raised fresh fruits and vegetables (and, of course, its dried fruit), grass-fed meats and award-winning olive oils, often via its booth at the Saturday farmers’ market in downtown Chico. “Until AB 1616, we were allowed to sun-dry the fruit, but you weren’t allowed to ‘value-add’ it in any way,” said Kerston. “We would have had to rent a commercial kitchen,” which can be pricey, he noted.

Ditto for making jam, which Chaffin Family Orchards produced before the passage of the California Homemade Food Act. “We’ve always had to rent a commercial kitchen for jam,” Kerston said. “If you go to a commercial kitchen, you’re renting for a particular date, once a month. You can’t save the culled fruit [for this purpose]—you have to take first-run fruit. If you’re making small batches of jam in a [home] kitchen, you can use culled fruit as the ‘waste’ fruit presents itself.”

Kerston brought up the example of peaches... which
before AB 1616 "often would end up as
livestock feed" simply because of appearance.

Kerston brought up the example of peaches: “Say you have a peach that is 90 percent good, or has a bug bite, or a bird strike. You can’t sell that at the farmers’ market as whole fruit as customers are generally turned off. Now, we have a ‘home’ for our ‘seconds,’” which before AB 1616 “often would end up as livestock feed” simply because of the appearance.

“Now, we can do a small batch of jam every weekend after the farmers’ market, rather than a once-a-month date,” Kerston said. “We’re looking forward to taking advantage of this in summer.”

But even more important than the fact that the California Homemade Food Act allows small businesses to use home kitchens for food preparation, notes Kerston, is the fact that the new law increases access to healthful food.

As Kerston explained it, “The [food] movement right now is trying to go back to this old-fashioned, heirloom way of life, but the reality is, in our modern society, everyone’s really busy. Sixty years ago, every home had one person in the household whose sole job was to feed and clothe the family—and we don’t have that anymore. And that’s OK.

“But for this food movement to grow, and for people to have access to fresh, healthy food, we have to be able to offer them ready-to-eat foods. The more we can remove the barriers [to accessing fresh, healthful, ready-to-eat foods], the more people will have access to healthy foods.

“This is designed to be an incubator program,” Kerston added, of AB 1616. “It allows small businesses to see what works before renting a full-blown commercial kitchen and getting a staff and all those next steps of growth. It provides an opportunity to get some experience, some customer feedback before taking those next steps on growing your business.”

You can read this entire article and more at the Chico News and Review HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto

Celebrating One-Month of Homemade-Food Businesses in California

It’s been one month since AB 1616 -- the California Homemade Food Act -- took effect.  In recognition of this anniversary, I want to celebrate the success of home-based food businesses in California!

Throughout the next week, I will be highlighting home-based-food business here in California.  

Taken from news articles, web-blogs, and other sources from around the state, I hope these posts will help illuminate the impact of AB 1616, provide readers with additional resources on how to start their own homemade food business, and inspire new ideas of how to help local businesses in California even more.

Mark Stambler and his award-winning
homemade brick-oven bread
(Photo: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

Today, I'm highlighting the story of the inspiration behind AB 1616, Mark Stambler, whose award-winning homemade brick oven bread business was shut down by the Los Angeles Department of Environmental Health. Get the story "Behind the Bill" in this Assembly Access Video.

Thank you, best wishes, and good cooking!

Mike Gatto

Assemblyman, 43rd District

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto

Cottage Foods Bill Classes Help Aspiring Indie Food Entrepreneurs

Grace & I's fruit pates at the New. Artisanal. Now. event (Photo by Krista Simmons/LAist)

...The gals over at Craftcation aren't alone in their plight to help aspiring food crafters make their signature recipes into solvent businesses. Caron Ory, who created a diabetic-friendly sugar substitute called Eco-BeeCo, is teaching a class in Fountain Valley to help aspiring food crafters navigate the new Cottage Foods Bill...

...Last fall, Gov. Jerry Brown signed the Cottage Foods Bill, also known as Assembly Bill 1616, allowing Californians to make and sell certain non-hazardous foods out of their kitchens as long as they didn't contain cream or meat...

...Ory started her business before the Bill passed, putting a hefty sum of cash and product on the line...

...On March 2, will teach a class from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa about AB 1616 and the business of starting a cottage industry out of a home kitchen. You can sign up...

You can read this entire article and more at the LAist HERE

 Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto  

California’s New Law Makes Homemade Food Sales Legal

A great article on the website "Triple Pundit" on AB 1616, the California Homemade Food Act.  Highlights below:

By Gina-Marie Cheeseman

...I have known a number of people in the golden state who wanted to start a home based business selling baked goods, but didn’t because they lacked access to a commercial kitchen. As of January 1, people who want to use their kitchens to prepare food for sale in California can now do so. The Homemade Food Act (AB1616) went into affect on that date.

Signed by Governor Jerry Brown last September, AB1616 allows Californians to sell “non-hazardous” food to grocery stores and restaurants for annual revenue up to $35,000 in 2013. That will increase to $45,000 next year and $50,000 in 2015. The new law puts California into the ranks of at least 32 other states that have passed similar laws.

AB1616 specifically states that a city or county “shall not prohibit a cottage food operation” but must do...

...The law is good for California’s economy, a fact not lost on Governor Brown. A press release by the Governor’s office declares that Governor Brown signed “eight bills to bolster business and job creation in the state of California.” One of those eight bills is the Homemade Food Act.

“As California’s economy recovers from the deepest recession since the Great Depression, it’s important that state government bolsters local job growth,” said Governor Brown. “Simply put, these bills make it easier for people to do business in California.”

Cottage food laws, as homemade food laws are often called, are particularly important during rough economic times. During high unemployment, cottage food laws allow people to make a living by using their own kitchens...

You can this entire article and more at the Triple Pundit HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto  

Selling home-baked goods now legalized

Highlights from Tara Duggan's article in the SF Chronicle:

When a commercial kitchen wasn't available, that took a slice out of Patricia Kline's pie business.  Now she can bake at home. 

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

...Patricia Kline's miniature pies have been featured in O magazine and the Wall Street Journal, yet she has struggled to pay the $25 hourly rental required for commercial kitchen space...
"...Finding a (commercial) kitchen, number one, and being able to keep it is really a barrier to entry," Kline said. "It's put a lid on my business..." 

...Kline is one of many Bay Area entrepreneurs eager to take advantage of AB1616, also called the Cottage Food Bill. It allows producers of certain nonperishable foods, which don't require refrigeration, to forgo commercial kitchens and prepare the food at home... 

"...Food production, or the food business in general, have been pretty good gateways, especially with women, to enter the business world," said California Assemblyman Mike Gatto, D-Los Angeles. "With the economy being the way it is, people have more time to do things like that and could really use the extra cash..." 

...Other Bay Area counties, including Alameda, Marin, Sonoma, San Mateo and Contra Costa, are slowly making permits available, meaning that entrepreneurs who get permits in those counties can start preparing foods like nuts and nut butters, crackers, popcorn, dried pasta, dried herbs and seeds, flours, certain candies and coffee.

Also included in the new law are tortillas, churros and other baked goods that aren't made with meat, cream or custard. In general, the foods allowed are ones that are nonperishable and don't inherently pose a risk of food-borne illness...

San Francisco just began offering permits to cottage food entrepreneurs such as Kline. 

Photo: Russell Yip, The Chronicle

...Amber Gillespie of Sacramento has applied for her health permit and is checking into zoning requirements before she starts her cake decorating business in her home... 

"I have two young children, which makes it financially difficult to get out of the house anyway, but a commercial kitchen is astronomical to start up," said Gillespie...

Tara Duggan is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: tduggan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @taraduggan

# # #

You can read this entire article and more at the San Francisco Chronicle HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto  

AB 1616, The California Homemade Food Act: What You Need to Know

Highlights from Rachael Narins article in LA Weekly:

...When bread baker Mark Stambler's homemade bread operation -- he was selling in a few local markets -- was shut down by health inspectors in 2011, Stambler decided to do something about it... 

...Thanks to the help of Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-CA) the law [AB 1616] -- which includes two types of permits -- was written, passed and went in to effect on Jan. 1... 

...So what does the law mean to you, the aspiring Cottage Food Operator (CFO) and which type of permit should you get, if any? There is a lot more to it than what we are able to cover here, but this is a good place to start. The Department of Public Health has a FAQ page with lots of additional information... 

...A cottage food law course is being created, and when it is implemented, all permit holders will be required to take it within 90 days of the permit being issued... 

...Once you have all of that established, there is still the matter of being a real, registered business. You need to be paying taxes. If you rent your home, the lease must allow for a home business. You should check with your municipal zoning office to make sure home businesses are allowed where you live. You should also be insured and have a food handlers license. None of those are prerequisites, but without them, the permit won't help you much...

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You can read this entire article and more at LA Weekly by clicking HERE

See a five minute video of the story behind AB 1616 and learn more about Assemblyman Mike Gatto's support for Mark Stambler, Patricia Kline, and other Cottage Food businesses by clicking HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto  

California eases regulations on homemade food businesses, boosting startups

Patricia Kline will be able to bake her pies at home when the city of San Francisco issues permits, 

and sell them at events including weddings. (Courtesy: Scott R. Kline)

By Michelle Macaluso - Published January 05, 2013 - FoxNews.com

FRESNO, Calif. –  California's homemade food makers are now able to sell their products to restaurants and grocery stores, thanks to a new law that went into effect this year.


The California Homemade Food Act created a new category of producers called "cottage food producers," which will allow people to cook their food items right from their kitchens at home.

"We all are very optimistic and excited," said Patricia Kline of San Francisco, who makes and sells small fruit pies.

Kline sells her pies at farmer's markets, online and also does special events like weddings and lunches. She says one of the huge barriers to enter into this business was the requirement to use commercial kitchens.
"Having the this law in place will allow me to be able to take advantage of orders that come in that day, and take advantage of pop-up opportunities and pick-up wholesaling," she said.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto, a Democrat from Los Angeles, helped pioneer the new law after he read a story about Mike Stambler, a bread maker from Los Angeles who had his business shut down in 2011 after authorities discovered he was selling bread he made from his home. Gatto saw this as an opportunity to help those like Stambler and drafted the bill.

"If you want to enter the food production business, the barriers before this bill were enormous," Gatto said. "I just thought there was a lot of business demand for people who wanted to enter this business and they didn't have an outlet. I wanted to make it a bit easier for them," he said.

Approved items include jams, baked goods, cookies, coffee, nuts, vinegar, candy and dried pasta.

"We talked with the different health departments and various scientists, and these are products that are 99.9 percent safe," Gatto said.

Nutritionist Laura Cipullo says that if the food item is cooked, it will probably kill any type of food-borne illness, and since vinegar is acidic it would be less likely to carry bacteria.

"The pros are that they are made better, more wholesome and healthier and give more people the ability to have more jobs and a different variety of food," Cipullo said.

The state will require cottage food producers to a take a food-handling class and pass an exam that is created by the California Department of Public Health.

The California Restaurant Association does not see any major fallout for the restaurant industry with the new law. But it had initial concerns about whether the new cottage food producers would be held to similar food safety and sanitation standards as restaurants.

"We kind of have a wait-and-see attitude to see how the agencies enforce some the of standards that our outlined in the law," said Angelica Pappas spokesperson for the California Restaurant Association.

Kline believes this new law will help families create small businesses they need to help them make that extra money they need in a bad economy.

"It can only be a good thing to have a close relationship with you, the customer, and me, the producer of what you're going to eat," Kline said.

In 2013, the total revenue limit will be $35,000 and will rise to $50,000 by 2015.

"People view it as a way to become the small business and are very excited and very positive about the law and a lot of people think it will change their lives," said Gatto.

Michelle Macaluso is part of the Junior Reporter program at Fox News. Get more information on the program HERE.

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You can read this article and more at Fox News by clicking HERE

See a five minute video of the story behind AB 1616 and learn more about Assemblyman Mike Gatto's support for Mark Stambler, Patricia Kline, and other Cottage Food businesses by clicking HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto  

2013 California Laws: Sales taxes go up, long guns are barred in public

By Patrick Mc­Greevy | Dec. 31, 2012

SAC­RA­MENTO — In 2012, the governor and Le­gis­lature over­hauled Cali­for­nia’s pub­lic pen­sion and work­ers’ compensation systems. They made it il­legal to carry rifles openly in cit­ies. They al­lowed cer­tain il­leg­al im­mig­rants to ob­tain driver’s li­censes and qual­i­fy for state col­lege fin­an­cial aid.

Voters made laws, too, ap­prov­ing Gov. Jerry Brown’s tem­por­ary quarter-cent hike in the sales tax, among oth­er meas­ures, in a bid to help re­solve Cali­for­nia’s dire fisc­al situ­ation.

In all, more than 750 new laws take ef­fect Jan.1.

Con­tro­versy sur­roun­ded the bid to per­mit per­haps hun­dreds of thou­sands of young il­leg­al im­mig­rants to qual­i­fy for state driver’s li­censes. The new law ap­plies to those giv­en a work per­mit as part of an Obama ad­min­is­tra­tion pro­gram that sus­pends de­port­a­tion for many people who ar­rived il­leg­ally as chil­dren.

Also con­ten­tious was the Dream Act, ap­proved in 2011 but tak­ing ef­fect today, al­low­ing stu­dents in the coun­try il­leg­ally to re­ceive tax­pay­er-fin­anced aid to at­tend uni­versit­ies and col­leges. The Cali­for­nia Stu­dent Aid Com­mis­sion ex­pects about 20,000 people to ap­ply for such as­sist­ance,said ex­ec­ut­ive dir­ect­or Di­ana Fuentes-Michel.

The ban on openly car­ry­ing un­loaded rifles and shot­guns in pub­lic in urb­an areas was largely a re­sponse to gun own­ers tak­ing long guns in­to their neigh­bor­hood cof­fee shops and parks as a demon­stra­tion of their 2nd Amend­ment rights.

Gun own­ers said the ban would in­fringe on their right to carry arms. But it passed with the back­ing of LAPD Chief Charlie Beck and L.A. County Sher­iff Lee Baca.

The courts have been en­lis­ted in a dis­pute over a new law pro­hib­it­ing the prac­tice of “con­ver­sion ther­apy” on minors in an ef­fort to change their sexu­al ori­ent­a­tion from gay to straight. Judges have dis­agreed over its mer­its, but a fed­er­al ap­peals court has blocked the law from tak­ing ef­fect.

New pub­lic pen­sion rules are aimed at sav­ing the two largest re­tire­ment sys­tems $78 bil­lion over the next 30 years. Pub­lic em­ploy­ees hired after Jan. 1 will have to wait longer to re­tire — up to age 67 for max­im­um be­ne­fits for many work­ers — and there will be new lim­its on how much pay they can col­lect.

New laws take ef­fect in many oth­er areas as well:

Cars and drivers

Insurance: Drivers pulled over by police are permitted to show officers their proof of insurance on an electronic device, such as a smartphone.

Red-light cameras: New statewide guidelines prohibit use of the cameras primarily to raise revenue and make it easier for drivers to challenge tickets issued on evidence from the devices.

Texting: Drivers may dictate, send and listen to text-based communications as long as they use voice-command or other hands-free technology.

Toll lanes: Solo drivers of hybrid vehicles are exempted from toll charges in “high-occupancy toll,” or HOT, lanes on parts of I-15 in San Diego and I-680 in Alameda and Santa Clara counties.

Used cars: Buy Here Pay Here lots that offer their own financing must post fair-market values on their autos and provide 1,000-mile, 30-day warranties on vehicles they sell.
Read The Times series: Wheels of Fortune

Vanity plates: State lawmakers no longer get a discount on vanity license plates.

Education

Charter schools: School districts gain greater authority to close charter schools that fail to make sufficient academic progress.

College textbooks: A new website, to be developed in coming months, will give students free digital access to 50 textbooks for lower-division courses in the University of California, California State University and California Community College systems. Hard copies will cost $20.

Fees: California State University may not establish, adjust or reallocate student fees without the approval of student representatives, must justify any increase and may not raise fees after the first 90 days of the school year.

Tests: The Academic Performance Index, which has been based entirely on student test scores, is changed to give test scores no more than 60% of the scale and include other factors such as graduation rates.

Employers and workers

Religious garb: California employers may not shunt Sikh and Muslim employees to work areas out of public view for wearing clothing or hairstyles, such as turbans, hijabs or beards, because of their religious beliefs.

Retirement: The state will create a panel to study the feasibility of a government-run retirement plan for low-wage private-sector workers.

Workers’ compensation: Payments to employees permanently disabled in job-related accidents will increase by $740 million, and employers will receive a break on premiums.

Food and drink

Beer: Certain microbrews aged in wooden barrels that previously held spirits will be licensed, regulated and labeled as beer throughout California.

Home-cooked food: Californians may sell certain homemade foods and baked goods, including bread, fruit pies, jams and dried nuts, to stores, to restaurants and directly to consumers.


Healthcare

Abortion: A study program that allows non-surgical abortions by a limited number of nurse practitioners, certified nurse-midwives and physician assistants is extended for two years.

Birth control: Registered nurses are permitted to give hormonal contraceptives to women by order of a certified nurse-midwife, nurse practitioner or physician assistant in some clinical settings.

Hollywood

Babies: Parents must have a doctor’s permission before being granted an entertainment work permit for infants 1 month old or younger.

Child actors: Registered sex offenders are barred from representing minors working in the entertainment industry. Criminal background checks are required for managers, publicists, photographers and other adults who have unsupervised access to young performers.
Read Times coverage: Case dropped against casting director over sex crime disclosure

Film taxes: The state’s tax credits for films and television shows made in California are extended for two years, providing up to $200 million in breaks for the industry.

Props: Red tape is reduced for permits to use sawed-off shotguns as props in film and television productions.

The Internet

Crime: The Los Angeles County sheriff is required to help state authorities determine whether Internet-related crimes, including identity theft and child molestation, are a significant problem requiring new state laws.

Privacy: University officials and private employers are forbidden to ask students, workers or job applicants for their email passwords or those for social media accounts such as Twitter and Facebook.

Telephone service: State agencies are banned from regulating Internet phone service. This extends a current “hands-off” policy by the California Public Utilities Commission.


Landlords, tenants and homeowners

Foreclosures: A tenant renting a property that is in foreclosure may keep possession of it until the lease expires. Another law guarantees struggling homeowners a reliable point of contact at their lender, imposes civil penalties on fraudulently signed mortgage documents and bans foreclosures on borrowers who are in loan-modification proceedings.

Pets: Landlords are not permitted to require that tenants declaw their cats or cut vocal cords in their dogs.

Rent: California landlords may not require that rent be paid online.

Law enforcement

Child abuse: The list of people subject to criminal liability for failing to report suspected child abuse is expanded to include coaches at elementary and secondary schools, college employees who interact with minors, commercial computer technicians and those who process film, video or computer images.

Stadium violence: Sports arenas and stadiums must post contact information for security personnel that is visible from seating and parking areas, so help can be summoned quickly if violence occurs.

Underage killers: Inmates serving life in prison for murders they committed as juveniles may apply after 25 years for a reduction of their prison term.

Parks and Wildlife

Animal fighting: Maximum fines double from $5,000 to $10,000 for people convicted of causing bears, bulls and roosters to fight with other animals or with humans.

Conservation: The state Department of Fish and Game must provide greater emphasis on conservation. Its name is changed to the Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Hunting: Dogs may not be used to hunt bears and bobcats.

State parks: The parks department must create a plan for increasing private revenue to operate the sites. Californians may apply a portion of their state tax refund to the parks in exchange for an annual park pass.

Public Transit

Bullet train: Members of the governing board of California’s High-Speed Rail Authority must publicly identify any financial interest they have in board decisions and disqualify themselves from acting on those matters. Read Times coverage: Cities in bullet train’s path have mixed reactions

Veterans

Benefits: State benefits rescinded due to a military discharge based solely on sexual orientation are to be restored if the federal government reinstates eligibility.

License plates: Fees for personalized veterans’ license plates are increased to provide more money to the County Veterans Service Officer Fund, which aids veterans and their families in obtaining benefits and services.

Sport licenses: The cost of sports-fishing and hunting licenses is reduced for active military personnel recovering from injuries or illnesses.

Welfare

Food stamps: Reimbursements will be made to those in a federally funded food stamp program called CalFresh if funds are stolen from their electronic benefit card accounts.

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You can read this article and more at the LA Times by clicking HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto  

California Homemade Food: New Law Allows People To Make Food At Home And Sell It In Stores

By Aaron Sankin Posted: 01/04/2013 2:12 pm EST  |  Updated: 01/04/2013 2:13 pm EST

Would you go to a restaurant to buy food someone made in their kitchen at home?

That's the question millions of Californians are going to have to ask themselves now that a new law, which went into effect on January 1, allows Golden State residents to sell their own products at restaurants and grocery stores without going through the onerous process of getting a commercial kitchen license.

Signed into law by California governor Jerry Brown last year, the California Homemade Food Act allows people to register themselves at "cottage food operations" after taking a food safety class, passing a state examination, paying a registration fee, labeling their food as homemade and submitting their kitchens to an annual inspection.

The law is aimed at stimulating the growth of small businesses as well as increasing access to the types of healthy food options, especially in low-income and rural communities.

"Up until now, people who wanted to turn their passion into a small business were faced with stifling red tape," the bill's author, Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles), told Capital Public Radio.

Gatto introduced the bill after the bread Los Angeles-area amateur baker Mark Stambler sold to some local restaurants drew the ire of public heath officials.

"If I...[wanted] to sell bread in a store anywhere in Los Angeles County, I basically have to own a wholesale food processing facility. Period," Stambler told Southern California Public Radio, noting that the costs for setting up a facility could easily reach hundreds of thousands of dollars.

There are some limitations on what home food producers are allowed to produce: meat, dairy and other perishable products are strictly off-limits. The list of approved foods includes non-cream filled goods, candy, dried fruit, pastas, granola, roasted coffee, jams, jellies, preserves and popcorn.

Additionally, since legislators didn't want the law to become a loophole through which large-scale food producers could skirt health code regulations, cottage operators have a revenue limit set at $35,000 (rising to $50,000 in 2015) and can only employ one full-time equivalent worker.

At least 32 other states, such as Texas, Michigan and Oregon, have passed similar laws allowing small businesses to prepare non-hazardous food for sale in home kitchens

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Read this story and more at the Huffington Post by clicking HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto  

Jam on: California Homemade Food Act goes into effect in January

Daily Dish

The inside scoop on food in Los Angeles

By Betty Hallock

December 10, 2012, 2:52 p.m.

As of Jan. 1, the California Homemade Food Act will go into effect, allowing people in Los Angeles to sell certain foods and baked goods they've made at home to stores, restaurants and directly to customers.

Among those people are Echo Park bread-baker-turned-activist Mark Stambler, who co-wrote the bill AB 1616, along with Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Silver Lake), that Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law in September. Stambler's business of selling bread to local businesses was shut down in 2011 by the Los Angeles County Health Department after a story about his bread was published in the Los Angeles Times.

"Hopefully I'll be selling bread in the same shops I’d been banned from selling to a year and a half ago," says Stambler, who has a wood-fired bread oven in his backyard. "I've been spending most of my time making sure this legislation goes through. But I’ve continued to bake, giving it to family and friends. I want to continue to sell it, I just love baking bread."

Now the L.A. County Health Department is preparing to implement the law that allows aspiring food entrepreneurs to sell products such as breads, cookies, cakes, pies, jams, candy, granola, baking mixes, coffee, tea, honey, dried fruit and nuts, and other goods that don't include cream or meat -- without investing in a commercial kitchen or jumping through zoning compliance and other regulatory hoops.

The legislation still requires home producers to complete a food processor course, label products and, depending on where they're selling, undergo inspections and registrations with the health department.

Supporters say the new law will create a lucrative cottage food industry and help give residents of California an alternative source of income. California joins at least 30 states that have laws that allow the sales of homemade goods.

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You can read this article and more at the LA Times by clicking HERE

Mike Gatto is the Chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Canada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.   www.asm.ca.gov/gatto 

Assemblyman Gatto Forms Small-Business Advisory Commission

Seeks public input on regulatory and statutory reforms to improve the state’s business climate.

November 29, 2012


Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles) is seeking applications from local business owners to serve on his District 43 Business Advisory Commission.  The commission will meet several times in the months ahead, with the goal of formulating one or more legislative proposals that would be introduced by Assemblyman Gatto in the 2013 state legislative session.

Assemblyman Gatto said he welcomes input from the people working hard to keep businesses thriving.

“We hear often that our business climate could be improved. I’m interested in hearing any proposal that would make the regulatory and statutory environment more sensible and less burdensome for local business owners. ”

Last year, the assemblyman authored or co-authored several bills to support small businesses including AB 1616 (The California Homemade Food Act), AB 2026 (The Film Industry Tax Credit), and AB 1900, which created an entirely new in-state biofuel industry. He hopes the commission will help him to identify even more common sense solutions to the challenges facing local businesses.

“As lawmakers, we have a sacred duty to listen to the needs and concerns of those who help our communities thrive, and to do what we can to support them,” said Gatto.

Anyone interested in participating on the commission should email Assemblyman Gatto at Assemblymember.Gatto@assembly.ca.gov with the subject line ‘Business Commission.’

You can read this story and more at the Crescenta Valley Weekly by clicking HERE

Mike Gatto is the chairman of the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly.  He represents the cities of Burbank, Glendale, La Cañada-Flintridge, La Crescenta, Montrose, the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Los Feliz, Silver Lake, Atwater Village, and portions of the Hollywood Hills and East Hollywood.