Sen. Mike Padden’s efforts to make Washington a friendlier place to do business took another step forward today with the signing of his bill to reform regulations concerning a new way of selling food.

Senate Bill 6388 puts the state Department of Agriculture in charge of overseeing companies that offer online sales of pre-packaged fresh food to be picked up from a truck rather than a brick-and-mortar store.

Padden, R-Spokane Valley, said Zaycon Foods in his hometown is a pioneer in the direct retailing of pre-packaged fresh food. Because the state hadn’t caught up with this new business approach, Padden said, the company’s trucks were viewed as “food service establishments” by the health departments in Washington’s 39 counties – meaning a separate fee in each county.

Padden’s legislation cuts through the red tape by creating a single point of regulation through a “direct retailer” license to be issued by the state agriculture department.

“The founder of Zaycon told me it was a matter of paying more than 30,000 dollars in fees to the county health departments across our state versus one 69-dollar fee in Idaho. If we want Washington-based employers and the jobs they create to remain in Washington, then we need more of this kind of regulatory relief,” said Padden.

To qualify for the license a business must sell and collect payment only through a web site; pre-packaged foods must be obtained from a food processor that is licensed, inspected or both by a state or federal regulatory agency; and the food must be delivered directly to consumers without any interim storage.

Also signed today was legislation that would protect churches, veterans’ organizations and other non-profit groups from jeopardizing their tax-exempt status simply because they hold a fund-raiser on their property. Padden was a co-sponsor of Senate Bill 6405.

“Last year the state revenue department had announced its intent to begin collecting taxes from these non-profits. Without this change in law that probably would have meant the end of the local church sausage festival or the annual spaghetti feed at the veterans’ hall,” Padden said, explaining such activities will now be allowed for up to 15 days a year.