In This Section:
'Terminator' Terminates Menu Labeling Bill
NYC Revamps Menu Labeling Proposal
California Flushes Old Toilet Standards
This issue's Economic Report Sponsor: Manitowoc Foodservice Group
Industry Report Sponsor: FHA2008
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'Terminator' Terminates Menu Labeling Bill
In a surprise victory for chain restaurants, California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger last month vetoed SB 120, a bill that would have required you to post nutrition information on menu boards. The city of Los Angeles had recently come out in favor of the bill.
The "Governator" has publicly spoken out in favor of legislation that would combat obesity as well as support menu labeling in general.
However, siding with the California Restaurant Association and the California Chamber of Commerce, both of which argued against the bill, Schwarzenegger said in his veto message, "This bill is impractical. As written, SB 120 would place burdens and costs upon some restaurant owners while imposing no burdens or costs on others."
Had the bill passed, California would have been the first to mandate statewide nutrition labeling on menus.
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NYC Revamps Menu Labeling Proposal
Taking another shot at getting chains to post calorie counts on menu boards, New York City's health department has revised a bill that a federal judge tossed in September.
The original bill, scheduled to take effect in August and enforced beginning Oct.1, would have required chains already making nutrition information available to consumers to post calories counts on their menu boards. U.S. District Court Judge Richard J. Holwell said federal law pre-empted the ordinance, but suggested in his ruling how the city could get around the problem.
The new bill proposes that all chains with 15 or more stores post calories counts on menu boards in type at least as large as prices. New York's state restaurant association, which filed the suit leading to the judge's rejection of the original bill, opposes the new bill on the grounds that mere calorie counts still mislead consumers. Posters, web sites and other means of informing consumers allow chains to give more complete nutrition information, the group has argued. But a spokesman said the association probably won't mount a legal challenge.
The health department plans a public hearing on the revised bill on Nov. 27, and expects to vote on the measure in January. For more information on the hearing, go to http://www.nyc.gov/html/doh/downloads/pdf/public/notice-intention-hc-art81-50-1007.pdf.
California Flushes Old Toilet Standards
And you thought we were yanking your chain? California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger recently flushed inefficient toilet standards down the drain by signing Assembly Bill 715.
The new high-efficiency toilet standards (reported in the Oct. 9 FER Fortnightly) go into effect Jan. 1, 2010, when at least half the toilets and urinals offered by plumbing manufacturers for sale in the state must comply. Toilets that use 1.6 gal. or less water are considered high-efficiency. HET urinals can't use more than 1 gal. per flush to meet the new standard.
By '11, 67% of manufacturers' products will have to meet the new standards; the number goes to 75% the next year and 85% the year after that. By New Year's Day of '14, all toilets and urinals sold in the state will have to comply.
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