"Truth in Crawfish" bill postponed

A committee hearing on House Bill 266, by Fred Mills Jr. of Breaux Bridge, a measure that requires restaurants to tell customers when they're being served Chinese or other imported crawfish, was postponed Monday, April 21.

The bill provides that any restaurant, person, corporation, or organization that sells or provides cooked or prepared crawfish that originate from a foreign country shall display the origin of the country of the crawfish on the menu or on a sign conspicuously placed at the entrance to the establishment.

Failure to do so would be a crime, punishable by a fine of $250 to $500 and/or imprisonment not more than 90 days for a first offense, $500-$800 and/or imprisonment by at least 60 days and not more than 90 for a second offense, and $750-$1,000 plus imprisonment between 90 and 120 days for a third.

It had been scheduled to be debated by the House Commerce Committee, meeting at 9:30 a.m.

Mills also has a bill to move regulation of wild crawfish harvesters from Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries to Dept. of Agriculture and Forestry, tentatively scheduled to appear before the Agriculture Committee Wednesday.