The Common Law

My kids usually have a lemonade stand once or twice a year. One of our neighbors doesn’t seem to like it and recently told us that we need to get a permit approving the lemonade stand from the city of Austin. The neighbor was sort of hinting that he could have the lemonade stand shut down because we didn’t have a permit. Is that right?

Positive news for Austin kids (and all kids in Texas): you do not need a permit to operate a lemonade stand. Your kids will not break any laws by selling lemonade, despite what your neighbor says.

The Texas Legislature passed a law in 2019 (House Bill 234) that prohibits the regulation of lemonade stands run by kids. Specifically, the law says that a city may not “prohibit or regulate, including by requiring a license, permit, or fee, the occasional sale of lemonade or other nonalcoholic beverages from a stand on private property or in a public park by an individual younger than 18 years of age.” The same law also prohibits homeowners associations (HOAs) from regulating lemonade stands operated by kids.

The law requires that the selling of nonalcoholic drinks happens only “occasionally.” The law doesn’t specifically define “occasionally,” but as long as the lemonade stand only happens a few times per year it should be covered.

It was obvious to all politicians in Austin that the juice was worth the squeeze on this issue. The law allowing kids to operate lemonade stands without regulation passed unanimously in both the Texas House and Senate.