Honey Identification Verification and Enforcement Act
Latest action. Referred to the subcommitteeA smaller panel inside a standing committee with jurisdiction over a slice of its subject matter. Most hearings and the first markup usually happen here.Read the full definition (opens a new tab) on Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture.
Honey Identification Verification and Enforcement Act or the HIVE Act
This bill directs the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to establish a standard of identity for honey based on U.S. Pharmacopeia (USP) standards. (USP is an independent, scientific nonprofit organization whose work includes developing and publishing standards for food ingredients.)
The FDA must submit a report to Congress on enforcement actions taken based on honey that is adulterated or misbranded. (A food is deemed misbranded and may not be sold if it does not meet the FDA-established definition and standard of identity.)
Further, the bill modifies the Department of Agriculture country-of-origin labeling requirements for honey to require that the countries-of-origin be listed in order of predominance.
The bill also establishes a requirement for including a certificate, mark, or statement on the label indicating that the honey meets the standard of identify established under this bill.
Written by analysts at the Congressional Research Service and published on Congress.gov, not by Civibrief. Summarized at the "Introduced in House" stage on July 20, 2023. 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 August 24, 2023: Referred to the Subcommittee on Nutrition, Foreign Agriculture, and Horticulture.
- 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 118th Congress (2023-24), 274 of the 16,565 bills and joint resolutions introduced became law, about 1.7 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?
Kelly Armstrong (R-ND) introduced it on July 20, 2023, and 7 members have since signed on as cosponsors.
They come from both major parties: 1 Democrat, 6 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 July 20, 2023, 1148 days ago. The most recent recorded action was 1113 days ago, on August 24, 2023.
Measures do not carry over. Anything the 118th Congress has not finished by January 3, 2025 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