No, Texas Kids Don’t Need a Permit to Run a Lemonade Stand

If I posted a picture of a cute, cuddly puppy on the Facebook, I bet over half the comments would be negative.

If the age of social media has taught us anything, it's that people will argue over the most petty stuff at the drop of a hat. Maybe it's boredom. Maybe it's an incorrect sense that they are absolutely right and everyone else is a mouth-breathing, drooling moron.

Whatever the case, folks like to complain, and Facebook is one of the best platforms on which to do it.

Case in point, I'm a member of a Facebook group called Temple, TX - City Watch, and when someone posted a photo of a kid selling lemonade a few days ago, a group admin had to turn off commenting because people were arguing about whether or not the kid was supposed to have a permit.

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Let's take a trip back to what feels like 100 years ago - 2019. On June 10 of that year, Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed what he called a "common sense lemonade law" that allows kids to operate lemonade stands on private property or at public parks.

House Bill 234 also included language banning cities and homeowners’ associations passing ordinances that would regulate lemonade stands on private property. That filled my heart with glee because I absolutely despise homeowners’ associations. (Don't @ me. I said what I said.)

Before the law was passed, a kid would have to pay their county's health department $150 for a permit.

So if a kid is out embracing the entrepreneurial spirit on private property with the owner's permission, or at a public park, stop and get a glass or drive on by and zip your lip.