For the fourth year in a row, attempts in the Iowa General Assembly to make legal on- the- farm sales of unpasteurized milk and milk products have ended in failure. Legislative experts in Des Moines say all raw milk bills, including House Bill (HSB) 131 that also sought to allow raw milk farmers to deliver to consumers in town, are dead.
State Rep. Jason Schultz, who chairs the Iowa House Local Government Committee, did not take up HSB 131 Wednesday and said the committee would not meet again before Friday’s cutoff date for bills to pass out of a committee in their house of origin. Schultz, R-Schleswig, personally supported the raw milk bill, but said: “It is clear that the other side does not want to come to the table, and we will work on them during the interim.” Likewise, Senate File (SF) 61 and SF 77, two other raw milk bills are being killed by the cutoff deadline, which the Iowa Assembly calls “The Funnel.” A broad-based coalition worked against the three bills and remains on guard. Mark Truesdell, legal counsel for the Iowa Dairy Foods Association, notes that raw milk language could be offered as an amendment to any bill that remains alive in the 85th Iowa General Assembly until it adjourns Sine Die, sometime in mid April. Such amendments, however, are rare. The 2013 legislative season is not going well for raw milk advocates as no state law requiring the pasteurization of milk have yet been changed by lawmakers.
