When life gives you lemons, you can legally sell lemonade.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott late Monday signed a bill that legalizes lemonade stands run by children.
“Here is a commonsense law,” Abbott said in a Twitter video. “It allows kids to sell lemonade at lemonade stands. We had to pass it because police shut down a lemonade stand here in Texas.”
“So kids,” Abbott said, pausing to pick up a glass of lemonade. “Cheers.”
This bill was prompted by two sisters, Andria and Zoey Green, who ran into a bit of trouble with the law in 2015, when they tried to raise enough money to take their father to Splash Kingdom on Father’s Day.
The bill prohibits cities and neighborhood associations from enacting rules that block or regulate minors trying to sell nonalcoholic beverages on private property, The Texas Tribune reported.
According to KLTV, Overton police showed up about an hour later and shut the lemonade stand down because the Green sisters did not have a “peddler’s permit.” With lack of a permit or no declaration of income, the lemonade stand can result in a $125 to $500 fine.
“Declare any income generated by the sale of lemonade in excess of the minimum income required to file a return,” said business lawyer Michael Schwartz to the Daily News. “That’s $400 of net income if self-employed.”
Last year, CountryTime pledged to help cover costs to government restrictions in order to help kids keep their lemonade stands up and running. The initiative was called “Legal-Ade”, which covers permits up to $300, up to the total limit of $60,000. The funding has since ended.
To avoid running a lemonade speakeasy anywhere outside of Texas, there are required permits around $70, The News reported in an article.
In Texas, kids are free to sell lemonade without running into government red tape starting Sept. 1. Their mother reported on Facebook that the Green sisters are planning a big celebratory lemonade stand in September, no permits necessary.
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