- Truly awful proposal: “2014 HB 366 proposes to prohibit landlords from refusing housing vouchers” [Maryland Legislative Watch, earlier from other states]
- SB 409/HB1197 (Raskin/Hixson) would require restaurants to have at least one staffer on premises at all times with state-accredited training available to discuss food allergies with customers [MdLegWatch]
- House of Delegates panel passes O’Malley’s steep minimum wage hike, though with some amendments [AP, WaPo]
- Sunlight on one of the most dangerous law enforcement practices: SB 468 (Shank) would require state and local agencies to report on asset seizures/forfeitures [Maryland Legislative Watch, Baltimore Sun]
- HB 1253 would empower existing hospice operators to block new competitors through tightened certificate-of-need (CON) regulation [Legiscan, Del. Michael Smigiel, Marc Kilmer/Maryland Public Policy Institute].
- Steep hike in cigarette tax: thank heavens no one’s figured out how to smuggle contraband along I-95, I-70 or we might have trouble [J.D. Tuccille, Reason]
- I spoke Thursday in College Park at a panel on marijuana legalization sponsored by Students for Sensible Drug Policy with panelists Neill Franklin of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, Toni Holness of the ACLU of Maryland, and Eric Sterling of the Criminal Justice Policy Foundation, moderated by Rachelle Yeung of the Marijuana Policy Project. I discussed Cato’s 2010 study by Jeffrey Miron and Katherine Waldock, “The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition“.
Filed under: allergies, fair housing, forfeiture, illegal drugs, Maryland, restaurants, tobacco
4 Comments
The second item also deserves a truly awful designation. The proposed law would require that a restaurant, and not the customer, ask about any known food allergens as if they were dispensing some dangerous substance. Then it would require the restaurant to have someone present who had completed a food allergen awareness training course. I though that this requirement would be burdensome. However, it turns out that for only $10 you can get certificate though online training.
http://www.berkshireahec.org/page.php?PageID=2636&PageName=MA+Food+Allergen+Certification+Training
And you can’t just fake it. “Upon completion of the training video [Note: you must watch the video to its end, meaning through the credits to get to the required check off saying you have viewed the video] you will receive a certificate by postal service within 10 days.”
Obviously all it takes is to view the video to become an expert on food allergens. Why are they offering this course? They are doing it because Massachusetts has beaten Maryland to the punch. They have required that this training be done since February 2011.
The MA allergy training video provides current information about food allergies and celiac disease-related food intolerance, including but not limited to the major food allergens; celiac disease and the food intolerances that it produces; symptoms of allergic reactions and celiac disease-related reactions to food; and procedures that restaurants should follow in educating customers about food allergies and celiac disease and steps that restaurants, inns, bed & breakfasts, caterers, should take if a customer has an allergic or celiac disease-related reaction to food.
It appears that Raskin and Hixson are just copying the existing Massachusetts law.
So, a mom and pop restaurant has to have a health expert on hand to advise customers? There are two good hot dog places near my home, one has one person on duty and the other has two. I guess they’ll have to get training (and since they operate longer hours, they have more staff–but just one or two at a time.)
What about Spanish speakers, will the “advisor” have to be bi-lingual? (or tri-lingual,in areas with many Chinese)? Will this discriminate against Latinos who speak very little English–enough to handle orders but not enough to give medical advice?
If the advice turns out to be inaccurate for any reason, what is the potential for a “medical” malpractice claim?
I foresee lots of attorney fees being racked up somewhere down the line.
I foresee lots of attorney fees being racked up somewhere down the line.
Which is, of course, the whole idea.
[…] vote to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana [Jackie Wellfonder, earlier here, here, […]