NEWS CONFERENCE AND RALLY:
New Jersey Home Bakers Sue Over Home-Baked Good Ban;
Rally and Press Conference at Courthouse

DATE/TIME:
Thursday, December 7, 2017/10:30 a.m.

PLACE:
Front Steps
Union County Courthouse
2 Broad Street
Elizabeth, NJ 07201
***REPORTERS WILL BE ABLE TO SAMPLE BAKED GOODS AT RALLY***

PARTICIPANTS: 
Michael Bindas, Senior Attorney, Institute for Justice
Erica Smith, Attorney, Institute for Justice
Martha Rabello, home baker and plaintiff
Heather Russinko, home baker and plaintiff
Members of the New Jersey Home Bakers Association

CONTACT: Shira Rawlinson, Institute for Justice, (530) 902-7630

SUMMARY: New Jersey is the only state that bans entrepreneurs from selling cookies, cakes and muffins simply because they are made in a home kitchen. Today, December 7, 2017, at 10:30 a.m., the Institute for Justice (IJ) and the New Jersey Home Bakers Association will be holding a press conference to announce a major lawsuit challenging the state’s ban on selling home-baked goods. Selling baked goods made in a home kitchen is punishable by up to $1,000 in fines.

The state ban has nothing to do with safety. The state bans home bakers from selling even items the government deems to be “not potentially hazardous,” such as cookies, muffins and breads. That’s why Heather Russinko, Martha Rabello, Elizabeth Cibotariu and the New Jersey Home Bakers Association have teamed up with IJ to sue the New Jersey Department of Health in state court. A victory in this case will allow New Jerseyans to sell safe goods baked in their home kitchens directly to customers.

Home bakers have been fighting to change the law since 2009. Bills ending the ban have passed the Assembly three times unanimously, but have gotten held up in the Senate Health, Human and Senior Citizens Services Committee because the committee chairman, Sen. Joe Vitale, has refused to bring the bills for a vote. Fed up, home bakers are now suing the state to ask the court to protect their constitutional right to earn a living.