[vendtalk] Massachusetts Vendors to Pay State to Inspect Vending Machines For New Labeling Requirements & Other Things

[Vandervoort's]

Subject: Massachusetts Vendors to Pay State to Inspect Vending Machines For
New Labeling Requirements & Other Things
	
Vending Times
Issue Date: Vol. 52, No. 5, May 2012, Posted On: 4/27/2012 

Mass. House Passes Bill To Cap Fee Hike For Vending Machine License Fee

Emily Jed - Emily at vendingtimes.net 

BOSTON -- The Massachusetts House has passed a state budget amendment that
sets a $6 limit to increases in the annual license fee for vending machines
this year. The state Department of Public Health had proposed a 567% fee
hike from $3 per machine to $20. 

Sponsored by Rep. Shaunna O'Connell (R-Taunton), the amendment to the
House's proposed $32.4 billion fiscal 2013 budget would prevent the DOH from
raising the fee more than 100% in a calendar year.

Health officials say the proposed $20 fee would fund inspections to ensure
the vending industry's compliance with the federal calorie-disclosure
requirements and new state rules banning snacks high in sugar and fats in
schools. The state last raised its vending machine license fee in 2003, when
the levy jumped from $1 to $3.

Massachusetts Vending Association president Bob Frotten testified on the
industry's behalf at a public hearing in March on the proposed fee hike. The
vending association also launched a petition at change.org and issued
stickers to operators to put on their machines to promote the cause. The
decals inform patrons about the proposed fee hike and that its passage would
necessitate higher vend prices, and ask them to help fight the measure by
signing the online petition.