PENALTY FOR FRAUDULENT HALAL FOOD - H.B. 5480 (H-2): FLOOR ANALYSIS
House Bill 5480 (Substitute H-2 as reported without amendment)
Sponsor: Representative Gary Woronchak
House Committee: Agriculture and Resource Management
Senate Committee: Farming, Agribusiness and Food Systems
CONTENT
The bill would amend the Michigan Penal Code to make the fraudulent sale of halal food a misdemeanor; and require the Department of Agriculture to investigate and inspect the sale of halal food. The bill would define "halal" as prepared or processed in accordance with Islamic religious requirements.
Under the bill, a person who, with intent to defraud, did any of the following would be guilty of a misdemeanor: sold or exposed for sale in any place where food products were sold any meat, meat preparation, article of food, or food product, and falsely represented it to be halal;
falsely represented any food product or the contents of a container to be so constituted and prepared, by having on the package the word "halal" in English; exposed for sale both halal and nonhalal meat, meat preparations, or food, and failed to identify each meat, meat preparation, or food as "halal meat" or "halal food"; or displayed in a place of business, or in handbills, words or letters in Arabic without also displaying in English the words "we sell halal meat and food only" or "we sell nonhalal meat and food only" or "we sell both halal and nonhalal meat and food".
In addition, a person would be guilty of a misdemeanor if her or she did any of the following: willfully marked halal food or products not halal or not so prepared; willfully removed, defaced, or destroyed the original slaughterhouse plumba to indicate the food was halal; or knowingly resold any food not having affixed to it the original slaughterhouse plumba indicating that the food was halal, or any food to which such plumba or other identification had been fraudulently affixed.
Proposed MCL 750.297f - Legislative Analyst: Claire Layman
FISCAL IMPACT
According to the Michigan Department of Agriculture, the bill would result in additional administrative costs associated with the staff costs involved in the investigation and inspection of halal food. The Department would not require additional staff for this work. The Department would absorb the workload within current resources.
The bill would have an indeterminate impact on local governments. There are no data to indicate how many people would be convicted of the proposed offenses. Offenders would be convicted of a misdemeanor. Misdemeanors for which no penalty is indicated are punishable by probation or incarceration for up to 90 days and a fine of up to $100. Local units would incur the costs of probation and incarceration, which varies by county from $27 to $65 per day. Libraries would receive any additional penal fine revenue raised under this bill.
Date Completed: 3-21-02 - Fiscal Analyst: Craig Thiel
- Bethany WicksallFloor\hb5480 - Bill Analysis @ http://www.senate.state.mi.us/sfa
This analysis was prepared by nonpartisan Senate staff for use by the Senate in its deliberations and does not constitute an official statement of legislative intent.