Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2015
Latest action. Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act of 2015
(Sec. 2) This bill amends the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act to revise the nutritional information that chain restaurants and retail food establishments must disclose. The nutrient content disclosure statement on the menu or menu board must include: (1) the number of calories contained in the whole menu item; (2) the number of servings and number of calories per serving; or (3) the number of calories per common unit of the item, such as for a multi-serving item that is typically divided before presentation to the consumer. Nutritional information may be provided solely by a remote-access menu (e.g., an Internet menu) for food establishments where the majority of orders are placed by customers who are off premises.
Establishments with self-serve food may comply with the requirements for restaurants or place signs with nutritional information adjacent to each food item.
Reasonable variations in the actual nutrient content of items are permissible, including variations in serving size or ingredients or variations due to inadvertent human error.
Establishments with standard menu items that come in different flavors, varieties, or combinations, that are listed as a single menu item can determine and disclose nutritional information using specified methods or methods allowed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
Regulations pursuant to this Act cannot take effect earlier than two years after final regulations are promulgated.
The FDA must give establishments in violation of nutritional labeling requirements 90 days to correct violations.
The FDA may no longer allow states or localities to vary from federal nutritional labeling requirements for chain restaurants.
(Sec. 3) Restaurants and retail food establishments are not liable in a civil action for claims regarding federal or state nutritional labeling requirements unless the action is brought by the United States or a state.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Passed House amended" stage on February 12, 2016. It describes the bill, it is not the legal text.
Where is it in the process, and what happens next?
4 steps remain before this bill could become law.
The record's latest action, on February 22, 2016: Received in the Senate and Read twice and referred to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions.
- Clearing the committees it was referred to, and being scheduled for a floor vote
- Passage by the House
- Passage by the Senate
- The President's signature. If the President vetoes it, two-thirds of both chambers must vote to override.
How likely is it to become law?
Civibrief does not forecast outcomes and this page has no opinion about this one. What the record supports is a base rate, which is a fact about the whole pile, not a prediction about this measure.
In the 114th Congress (2015-16), 329 of the 10,233 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 3.2 percent. That count covers every measure at every stage, including the many that never left committee.
This one is not there yet: 4 steps are still outstanding, listed above.
Has anyone actually voted on it?
No. No roll call in this Congress cites this measure. That is the ordinary outcome: most measures never reach a recorded floor vote, and a committee ends most of them simply by not acting.
A vote is not the only thing that happens to a measure. Hearings, markups, and referrals are all recorded actions, and none of them is a vote of the full chamber.
Who is behind it?
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-WA) introduced it on April 23, 2015, and 99 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 8 Democrats, 91 Republicans.
Cosponsoring is a formal signature on the text. It is not a commitment to vote for the measure, it does not bind anyone's party, and a long list of cosponsors is a measure of attention rather than of prospects.
How long has it been in play?
It was introduced on April 23, 2015, 4158 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 3853 days ago, on February 22, 2016.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 114th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2017 dies when the term ends, and has to be introduced again from the start in the next Congress.
Every answer above is assembled from this measure's own record on Congress.gov and from published counts of what Congress has passed before. Civibrief does not predict outcomes and takes no position on any measure.
Vote history
- HouseIn committee, no floor vote yet
- SenateAwaits House passage
- PresidentAwaits both chambers