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SB 724

Food: milk; human breast milk banks, companies, and cooperatives; regulate. Creates new act. TIE BAR WITH: SB 0726'25

2025-2026 Regular Session Introduced by Rosemary Bayer and 2 co-sponsors

The bill establishes a state-licensed framework to regulate human milk banks and hospitals, setting safety standards, donor screening, penalties for adulteration, and required disc

REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND HUMAN SERVICES
#food:milk #health:other #stateagencies(existing):healthandhumanservices #women:other
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WeVote Research Nonpartisan
Bill Summary · SB 724

Overview

SB 724 (2025-2026, Michigan) would regulate human milk banks, human milk banking companies, and hospitals involved in procuring and distributing human breast milk for infant consumption. The bill creates a new act establishing standards, enforcement mechanisms, penalties, and required disclosures, with a tie-bar to SB 726. It excludes individual-to-individual sharing or feeding one's own child from its scope.

Main purpose and intent

  • Ensure the safety and quality of human milk provided for infant consumption.
  • Establish regulatory standards aligned with national guidelines (e.g., Human Milk Banking Association of North America, FDA, CDC).
  • Provide education and support related to breastfeeding and expressed milk.
  • Create enforcement, inspection, and sanctions to deter adulteration or misbranding of human milk.

Key provisions and changes

  • Definitions (Sec. 1): Introduces specific terms such as adulterated milk, department (DHHS), director, distribution, donor, hospital, human milk bank, human milk banking company, processing, procuring, and storage.
  • Adulteration and safety standards (Sec. 3): Hospitals, banks, and banking companies must not provide adulterated milk and must follow DHHS rules and federal/NAHNA standards. Violations carry civil infractions or felonies, with penalties increasing by severity (civil fine up to $5,000; felony penalties up to 5 years’ imprisonment or $10,000 fine plus double economic benefit for injuries; up to 15 years’ imprisonment or $15,000 fine plus double economic benefit for deaths). Economic benefit includes related processing or collection fees.
  • Donor screening (Sec. 3): Donors must be screened for drugs, substances, and certain diseases per NAHNA guidance; screening not required for milk donated for the donor’s own child.
  • Raw milk prohibition (Sec. 5): Banks and banks companies must not provide raw human milk for infant consumption; violations carry similar penalties as above.
  • Disclosure and records (Sec. 11): Banks/companies must disclose how procured milk is used, regardless of acceptance; forms and processes to be prescribed by the department, with possible annual quantity reporting.
  • Inspection and enforcement (Sec. 13): Director has access to facilities, may seize samples, inspect records under HIPAA, and protect confidential information; photographs and records can be taken and kept confidential where trade secrets are involved.
  • Seizure and condemnation (Sec. 15): Director may seize adulterated or misbranded milk; court procedures for condemnation, storage, and possible return if corrected; if milk initially non-adulterated becomes adulterated during investigation, the state may compensate the loss.
  • Scope and exclusions (Sec. 17): Individual-to-individual sharing and feeding one’s own child are exempt from the act.
  • Rulemaking (Sec. 19): Department may promulgate implementing rules under the Administrative Procedures Act.
  • Enacting clause: Act takes effect only if SB 726 is enacted into law (tie-bar).

Who is affected

  • Hospitals that procure, process, store, or distribute human milk.
  • Human milk banks and human milk banking companies (including nonprofit organizations or cooperatives).
  • Donors of expressed milk (subject to screening requirements).
  • Infants receiving donor milk, particularly medically fragile or preterm infants.
  • State Department of Health and Human Services and related regulatory and licensing agencies (enforcement and rulemaking).

Procedural and timeline aspects

  • Enactment contingent on SB 726 (tie-bar).
  • Establishes a framework for ongoing regulation, inspection, and enforcement with potential civil or criminal penalties tied to adulteration or misbranding.
  • Allows the department to request disclosure of milk acceptance/rejection quantities annually.
  • Implementing rules to be developed under the Administrative Procedures Act; the term “rules promulgated under this act” implies phased regulatory development after passage.

Note: The accompanying analysis suggests potential fiscal and operational impacts, including enforcement costs and possible effects on state and local resources depending on enforcement intensity.

Compiled from official sources — confirm details with the bill’s official record.

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