Fee Provisions in Senate Food Safety Bill May Slow or Stymie Measure
It is being reported that any effort by the House to quickly pass the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act (S. 510), which was passed by the Senate on November 30, 2010, may be slowed or stymied over the issue of who can originate “revenue” bills.
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(The House passed its own food safety legislation (H.R. 2749) in July 20091. Though the two bills share many commonalities, they have differences on food importer registration, penalties, verification of foreign suppliers, etc. Generally, in order for a bill to be implemented, identical versions of a bill must be passed by both the House and Senate, and then the bill must be approved (enacted) by the President.)
Some Say Senate Fee Provisions Violate House’s Authority to Originate Revenue Bills
Some say that there is a problem with Section 107 of the Senate’s food safety bill, which would provide the Food and Drug Administration with the authority to collect various fees to offset the costs of the programs it would be required to administer.
The argument is that Section 107 is in conflict with Article I, Section 7, of the U.S. Constitution, which provides that all bills for “raising revenue” (e.g., the fee provisions) must originate in the House of Representatives.
If this is the case, the House could not simply pass the Senate version of the food safety bill as some had wanted. (See ITT’s Online Archives or 12/01/10 news, 10120139, for BP summary of the President urging swift House action on the bill.
Also see ITT’s Online Archives or 12/02/10 news, 10120221, for BP summary of Senate Republicans vowing to block certain voting until the Senate has acted to fund the government and has extended the tax cuts that expire at the end of 2010.)
Importer Fees Among the Senate Bill’s Fee Provisions
The following fees aimed at importers are among the fees at issue in Section 107 of the Senate bill:
- Qualified importer program -- importers participating in the voluntary “qualified importer program” would be required to pay an annual fee to cover the administrative costs of the program;
- Reinspection - each importer subject to a reinspection would have to pay a fee in order to cover reinspection-related costs for each year; and
- Recall costs - an importer who does not comply with a food recall order would have to pay for FDA’s associated food recall activities.
1See ITT’s Online Archives or 09/01/09, 08/25/09, 08/12/09, 08/10/09 and 08/04/09 news, 09090120, 09082510, 09081205, 09081015 and 09080415, for BP summaries of House-passed H.R. 2749’s provisions on: ceramicware, Bisphenol A & infant formula; facilities and exporting; food tracing; broker registration and new reasons to detain food; and importer registration, certification for high-risk imports, and increased inspections.
(See ITT’s Online Archives or 12/01/10 news, 10120139, for BP summary of the President urging the House to take swift action on food safety and an overview of the Senate-passed bill based on a Senator Harkin (D) press release.)