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Washington state recently made national news after the “Label It Wa” grass-roots campaign successfully collected and submitted over 350,000 signatures in order to get “I-522 The People’s Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act” on the 2013 ballot. This bill would require genetically engineered food in the state to be labeled.

Also in Washington, San Juan County residents and farmers passed Initiative Measure No. 2012-4 to ban the growth of genetically modified organisms. Now, Republican Representative Cary Condotta has stepped up and introduced
House Bill 1407, which aims to remove the bureaucratic red tape, allowing local legislative authorities to regulate genetically modified organisms from foods to seeds as they see fit, instead of relying on the state to take action.

“When we saw San Juan do this, we thought it was great, so we see this on a different path than I-522 but we made sure to put a provision in HB 1407 that none of it would override I-522, so if the labeling bill passes all food will still be labeled state wide, this just gives the local level even more control,” explained Rep Condotta.

HB 1407 leaves no stone unturned on what local citizens can decide regarding GMO. Section 1 reads:

It is within the jurisdiction of the local legislative authority to determine the parameters of regulation, which may include the production, use, advertising, sale, distribution, storage, transportation, formulation, packaging, labeling, certification, registration, propagation, cultivation, raising, or growing of genetically modified organisms.