AB 550

Under current law, the Department of Health Services (DHS) may issue a

certificate of food protection practices (FPP certificate) to an individual who: 1)

satisfactorily completes a written examination approved by DHS that demonstrates

the individual's basic knowledge of food protection practices; or 2) has achieved

comparable compliance. Also under current law, an FPP certificate holder may

renew the FPP certificate after five years by satisfactorily completing a

recertification training course approved by DHS as meeting standards for approval

that are established by DHS by rule.

This bill eliminates the requirement that the initial examination be written

and requires examinations to be approved by DHS as meeting standards established

by DHS by rule (approved examinations). The bill also provides that an individual

renewing an FPP certificate, instead of satisfactorily completing a recertification

training course approved by DHS, must again satisfactorily complete an approved

examination.

The bill provides, subject to an exception, that whenever food is being prepared,

processed, or served at a restaurant, the person who holds the permit for the

restaurant issued by DHS or a local health department (restaurant permit holder)

must ensure that there is a person on the restaurant premises who holds an FPP

certificate. Under the exception, the restaurant permit holder is not required to

ensure that there is an FPP certificate holder on the premises if both of the following

apply: 1) the restaurant has five or fewer food handlers who are working at the

restaurant at that time; and 2) if the restaurant has had a priority violation at each

of two consecutive inspections, the restaurant has, subsequent to those inspections,

had two consecutive inspections without a priority health violation.

Finally, the bill prohibits a city, village, town, or county (local government) from

enacting an ordinance requiring a restaurant, a restaurant permit holder, or a

person who conducts, maintains, manages, or operates a restaurant to satisfy a

requirement related to the issuance or possession of an FPP certificate that is not

found under the provisions in the statutes related to FPP certificates. The bill

provides that, if a local government has in effect on the bill's effective date an

ordinance that is so prohibited, that ordinance does not apply and may not be

enforced.