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House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | January 16, 2013 04:21 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Representative Michele Brooks |
| To: | All House members |
| Subject: | Authority to Inspect State Office Building Restaurants (Prior HB 303) |
| A few years ago, the House State Government and Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committees had a joint hearing on the Capitol Cafeteria operations and the violations of our then-existing food laws. Despite allegations that the language enacted via House Bill 174 (Now Act 106 of 2010) would have avoided the situation by adding new law with which the restaurant-tenant would have to comply, I respectfully disagree. A company which had 54 violations of existing law would very likely have ignored any new laws as well. In trying to determine just which agency does have inspection jurisdiction, it appears that a 1943 law gave the authority for inspection of restaurants in the State Capitol and other State office buildings to the Department of Health. Many duties of the Department of Health were subsequently transferred in 1970 to the Department of Environmental Resources (DER) when it was created, but not the inspection authority over the State office building restaurants. Food inspection responsibilities of DER were then transferred in 1994 to the Department of Agriculture. During the hearing, neither then-Secretary of General Services James Creedon nor then-Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding could confirm at the hearing that inspection authority does not continue to lie with the Department of Health. Nor do we know if the Department of Health ever established a memorandum of understanding with the City of Harrisburg to conduct inspections, since the City does have jurisdiction over licensing and inspection of other eating and drinking places within the city limits. It is clear that there is ambiguity over what agency has licensing and inspection jurisdiction over restaurants operated within State buildings. Furthermore, the provisions enacted in Act 106 of 2010 requires that a licensing jurisdiction must fail to inspect an establishment before the Department of Agriculture has the authority to license and inspect all facilities within the jurisdiction. Therefore, it would be proactive to ensure that either the Department of Agriculture has this specific licensing and inspection authority, or that there is a memorandum of understanding in place that makes it clear who does have licensing and inspection jurisdiction, and that inspections are conducted in accordance with the regulatory standards established by the Department of Agriculture (our current Food Code at 7 PaCode, Chapter 46). I plan to reintroduce this legislation in the near future and hope you will join me as a cosponsor. Previous cosponsors: MAHER , BOYD , CLYMER , FREEMAN , GEIST , HARHART , HORNAMAN , KAUFFMAN , KORTZ , MILLARD , MILLER , MOUL , PICKETT , SONNEY , STERN , SWANGER , VULAKOVICH , FLECK , EVERETT , REICHLEY , GROVE, HESS , DENLINGER , MURT , BURNS and MAHONEY |
Introduced as HB1377