Past Policy Effort: Protecting Home Cooks

Background

In 2012, the Law Center worked alongside allies and food movement leaders to pass the California Homemade Food Act. We are passionate about legalizing homemade food sales and providing increased opportunities for local food production and sales, especially for low-income entrepreneurs who don’t have the resources to access expensive commercial kitchens. In 2017, a bill was introduced in the California Legislature (AB 626) to expand the types of homemade foods allowed to be sold in California, especially hot meals. It was a crossroads moment for the food movement -- Would homemade food be taken over by massive tech platforms, or would it build on the success of community-driven institutions like farmers’ markets and worker cooperatives? 

After many conversations with stakeholders from around California, the Law Center decided that we could not support the legislation as it was written. Our primary concern was that the "gig economy" has shown itself to "disrupt" industries for the primary benefit of investors and outside shareholders, leaving workers behind. This legislation was written under the direction of tech company executives and lobbyists to meet the needs of tech platforms and their investors, and we believed it would have harmful consequences for home cooks and public safety. Our intention was to improve the policy proposal by expanding opportunities for home cooks to operate lawful businesses, while also curbing the powers of Big Tech in the food system (see links below for details).

Past Policy Proposal: Download summary proposal (2 page pdf). Download full policy proposal (6 page pdf).

Other News About Homemade Food Laws:

• "Guess Who's Coming for Dinner" (April 13, 2018): on the latest Big Tech power grab.

• "The Future of Homemade Food is at Risk" (February 9, 2018): on the amendments to AB 626 protecting web platforms from legal liability.

•  Op ed in the Summer 2017 edition of Edible East Bay (Summer 2017): our op ed in Edible East Bay.

• "A New Homemade Food Act" (April 13, 2016): an intro about efforts made in 2016 to change the law.

• "Update on the New Homemade Food Bill" (May 2, 2016): a more in-depth discussion about ownership and control of our food system and an update on the legislative efforts.

• "Preliminary Feedback on New Homemade Food Sales Policy" (October 4, 2016): a report-back from a series of conversations in Southern California discussing nuts and bolts issues to be addressed in potential legislation.

• "Nuts and Bolts: More Ideas for Regulating Homemade Food in California" (October 6, 2016): a discussion of some more nuanced issues to be addressed in terms of food handling and preparation.

• "Stockton Mom Prosecuted for Selling Homemade Food" (November 10, 2016): reaction to the prosecution of home cook Mariza Ruelas.

• "New Homemade Food Legislation - 2017" (February 16, 2017): update on a new bill, AB 626, and our take on it.

• "Homemade Food Bill (AB 626) Stalls in Assembly" (June 13, 2017): describes why giving platform users some small amount of equity in a tech company is insufficient for addressing concerns about exploitation in the "gig economy" and notes AB 626's new timeline.