Eye on Madison

Written By: the ECJ Staff  |  Posted: Tuesday, May 25th, 2010

The purpose of this column is to keep our readers informed on what our state legislators, governor, and bureaucrats are doing. This is not an easy task. In the 2009 legislative session, 406 bills have been signed into law. There were 978 assembly bills and 708 senate bills introduced. If anyone doubts that government has gotten too big and too intrusive, these statistics should shock you into reality.
Under the guise of protecting public health and safety, numerous legislation is introduced. Why in the world is there a law against selling unpasteurized (raw) milk anyway? The government is not to interfere with my right to contract. If I as a responsible adult wish to buy raw milk from my neighbor, that is no business of the government. Big business, that is, large dairy processors are holding the purse strings. If I can't buy raw milk from my neighbor I will have to buy their processed milk. The small farmer, who now must sell his milk at the wholesale price to the big dairy processors, could sell it to me at the retail price. The farmer makes more money and I get a product I want that is fresher, and a product I know firsthand is produced under sanitary conditions. I would sooner trust what I can see with my own eyes than to trust some government bureaucrat.
Word got out that if the governor signed the raw milk bill, the large dairy processors were not going to accept milk from farmers who sold some of their raw milk to local customers. That may or may not have been an empty threat. The governor did not site this as a reason for his veto. The raw milk bill passed with veto proof margins, but the legislature is not in session to override it.

Some Good Legislation

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