WASHINGTON – Beginning Tuesday, November 3, the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Health will hold a series of markups on legislation, including the NACS-supported menu-labeling bill, the Common Sense Nutrition Disclosure Act (H.R. 2017), and H.R. 3537, the Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2015.

During a markup, committee members can offer, debate and vote on amendments to the legislation.

H.R. 2017 was introduced on April 23 by U.S. Represesntatives Cathy McMorris Rogers (R-WA-05) and Loretta Sanchez (D-CA-46). As of Friday, the House bill had support from 91 additional representatives. And just last week, U.S. Senators Roy Blunt (R-MO) and Angus King (I-ME) introduced the Senate version of the menu-labeling bill (S. 2217).

H.R. 2017 would amend a section of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act that requires calorie and other nutrition information be provided to consumers in restaurants and other similar retail food establishments, including convenience stores, with 20 or more locations.

The Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) final rule was issued on November 25, 2014—three-and-a-half years after FDA published the proposed the rule. FDA delayed implementation of the final rule by one year to December 1, 2016. The rule mandates that restaurants and similar retail food establishments provide calorie and other nutrition information to consumers. According to the final rule, similar retail establishments include:

… bakeries, cafeterias, coffee shops, convenience stores, delicatessens, food service facilities located within entertainment venues (such as amusement parks, bowling alleys, and movie theaters), food service vendors (e.g., ice cream shops and mall cookie counters), food takeout and/or delivery establishments), grocery stores, retail confectionary stores, superstores, quick service restaurants and table service restaurants.

The bill would provide flexibility to ensure entities could utilize alternative methods to food labeling that are appropriate for the diverse business models and that are less burdensome, but accomplish the same goal of providing nutritional information to consumers.

H.R. 3537, the Synthetic Drug Control Act of 2015, was introduced on September 17 by U.S. Representatives Charlie Dent (R-PA-15), James Himes (D-CT-04), David Jolly (R-FL-13) and Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.) to combat the continued rise of bath salts and Spice.

NACS supports the legislation. The bill would strengthen existing federal law, which provides that any compound that is chemically or pharmacologically similar to a controlled substance in Schedule I or II of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is to be legally treated as though it were also listed in that same schedule.

Stay tuned for complete coverage of the markup this week in NACS Daily.