California has been the laughingstock of the food world this year thanks to a new rule that proposed to make chefs and even bartenders wear gloves at all times. Our Dave Mau wrote about how impractical it would be from a workplace point of view, and even appeared on KFI-AM 64 to talk about the story.
And it was Dave who alerted me to this exciting development: emergency legislation has been proposed to stop the bill before it ever really got out of the gate!
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Assembly Bill 2130 would seek to return the law to its 2013 days, when the wearing of gloves was required only for a tiny sector of the food industry, and not restaurant folks that worked with ready-to-eat foods or bartenders whipping up Manhattans. Proposed by Sacramento-area Assemblymember Richard Pan, who happens to be chair of the Assembly Health Committee, it's already found bipartisan support.
“It's not about whether there are gloves or not, it should be about whether the local business and the health inspector have worked together to create a safe environment for the customer,” Dr. Pan stated at a press conference today, surrounded by restauranteurs.
The law faced overwhelming opposition, not just from industry professionals but also the general public–a Change.org petition asking for the law's repeal is near 6,500 signatures. “We're not done yet, we still have to make sure the bill goes through, but they haven't heard any major opposition so it's looking good,” the petition's handlers wrote in an email today. “This is super exciting, and a real example of how powerful we are as a group. Thank you all for the support so far.
Smart legislation coming from Sacramento? WHOA…
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