Action Alert: Contact Your Representative and Senator Today!

  Call and/or email your legislators and ask them to vote yes on LD783, “Resolution, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Establish a Right to Food.”

LD 783 would allow Maine people to vote on a referendum in November 2016.

Here is the question as it would appear on the ballot:

“Do you favor amending the Constitution of Maine to declare that all individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to acquire, produce, process, prepare, preserve and consume the food of their own choosing for their own nourishment and sustenance and to barter, trade and purchase food from the sources of their own choosing for their own bodily health and well-being?” 

If Maine voters approve the question in November, the following section would added to the Declaration of Rights in the Constitution of Maine:

Sec 25. Right to food freedom; food self-sufficiency; bodily health and well-being.                        

All individuals have a natural, inherent and unalienable right to acquire, produce, process, prepare, preserve and consume the food of their own choosing, for their own nourishment and sustenance, by hunting, gathering, foraging, farming, fishing, gardening or saving and exchanging seeds, provided that no individual commits trespassing, theft, poaching or other abuses of private property rights, public lands or natural resources in the acquisition of food; furthermore, all individuals have a right to barter, trade or purchase food from the sources of their own choosing, for their own bodily health and well-being and every individual is fully responsible for the exercise of these rights, which may not be infringed.

A bipartisan majority of legislators on Joint Standing Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry voted in support of LD 783. It now goes to the House of Representatives and Senate to decide whether to send the question to voters.
LD 783 is about food choice, food self-sufficiency, and individual responsibility. 

This bill does not change or preempt any food safety laws currently on the books. 

The House of Representatives may vote on LD783 the morning of Tuesday, March 22nd.

The Maine Senate will likely vote soon after.

Find the contact information for the Representative and Senator who represents your town in the Maine legislature online at: legislature.maine.gov/house/townlist.htm

Leave a brief message for your Representative on Tuesday morning, including your name, town, contact info, and a request that they support LD 783, “Resolution, Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of Maine To Establish a Right to Food,” and allow Maine people to vote on food choice in November.