MONTGOMERY — The Alabama House of Representatives voted on Tuesday to increase licensing fees for Alabama seafood dealers. The funds will go to a state non-profit to encourage the purchase of Alabama products instead of imported products.
House Bill 1 (HB1) by State Rep. Chip Brown (R-Hollinger's Island) would increase the licensing fee for dealers who dispense imported seafood. The seafood dealer's license would go from $200 to $400 for residents and from $400 to $600 for non-resident dealers.
It also increases the licensing fee for vehicles used by seafood dealers to transport products from $100 to $300 per vehicle.
The fee increase would apply to any person in the state who must purchase a license to sell, broker, trade, barter or process any imported seafood.
The bill initially targeted exclusively foreign seafood and created a fee exclusively for foreign seafood dealers. The funds were meant to be placed in the Imported Seafood Safety Fund for the Alabama Department of Public Health (ADPH) to test and monitor raw seafood products of foreign origin. However, Brown amended the bill on the House floor, removing the funds and additional fees and raising the licensing fee across the board.
The new version of the bill now requires the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to give $200 from each dealer's licensing fee to the non-profit Sweet Grown Alabama to promote Alabama seafood.
Sweet Grown Alabama is a non-profit foundation that "enhances marketing opportunities for Alabama farmers by connecting retailers and consumers to Alabama-grown foods and other agricultural products."
Brown told the House that the substitute bill resulted from negotiations between the Organized Seafood Association of Alabama and the Alabama Grocers Association.
Presenting the bill before the House, Brown emphasized the legislation's purpose: to encourage seafood purchasers to buy Alabama Seafood instead of products of foreign origin.
"In reality, it's actually going to help the restaurants because it's going to be more exposure of 'buy Alabama seafood' and draw more attention to it," Brown said. "As well as the grocery stores. That's why we worked this out with the grocery store association and the seafood association."
The bill passed unanimously, but not without clarification from mainly Democratic lawmakers, who expressed concern that the increased fee might lead to higher consumer costs.
"What's happening in the economy with all these people losing their jobs, all these things closing down, I'm just making sure, as an everyday person, I can afford to eat," said State Rep. Pebblin Warren (D-Tuskegee). "When I think about this, I know that seafood is usually higher than average other entrees on the menu. I just want to make sure that we're not pricing ourselves out of the opportunity to go out and eat, as well as causing some of our businesses to close because they can't manage the cost."
Brown responded that he didn't anticipate any additional cost levied on the customer, stressing that the main goal was to bolster Alabama's seafood market, which he claims is suffering from foreign imports.
"If I even remotely thought that was the case, I wouldn't be for this," Brown retorted. "I think it's crucial. We've got commercial fishermen, shrimpers [and] oystermen that are hanging on by a thread because of foreign imports. So, that's the effort here, is to try to highlight Alabama seafood and have people want to buy Alabama seafood."
The bill ultimately passed 95-0 with seven abstentions. It now goes to the Senate for deliberation.
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