Newly filed bill would provide Texas food truck operators more freedom to operate
TEXAS (KMID/KPEJ)- Yesterday, State Rep. Brian Harrison introduced HB 2683, a bill that would offer Texas food truck entrepreneurs more freedom to operate and service customers.
HB 2683 would allow food truck operators to receive a single permit to operate statewide, as opposed to the current requirement of seeking a local permit each time they enter a new city or county. Food truck operators who meet the standards for the simplified statewide permit will be able to make a living by serving customers in numerous cities or municipalities without having to apply for a new license every time.
HB 2683 would also prevent cities from using proximity restrictions to keep food trucks out of areas with restaurants, as well as require food trucks to obtain permission from their brick-and-mortar competitors before competing for customers.
'Food truck owners deserve freedom, and I'm proud to file HB 2683 to slash the red tape that increases prices and decreases liberty,' said Representative Brian Harrison. 'Texas should not be in the business of picking winners and losers in business, and local governments should not get to decide who can compete in the free market. I'm fighting for small business owners and employees, who shouldn't have to beg local governments for permission to earn a living.'
'The right to earn a living and provide for one's family is a core constitutional right,' said IJ Legislative Counsel Samuel Hooper. 'This bill protects that right by ensuring honest competition when it comes to food trucks, which provide a valuable service for Texans across the state. The Institute for Justice and food truck owners and customers across Texas support this bill.'
The city of Odessa also recently discussed an ordinance that would make it easier for food truck operators to launch a business.
FULL STORY: City Council to discuss food truck ordinance to make it easier for trucks to operate
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
26 minutes ago
- Yahoo
2025 State of Economy event held in Longview discuss new laws to help East Texans
LONGVIEW, Texas (KETK)– LEDCO addresses tariffs to KETK News at the 2025 State of Economy. The event was held by the Longview Chamber of Commerce to hear about how new laws will help the local economy. The nonprofit organization, Texas 2036 spoke about how additional funds to public education, water infrastructure, and healthcare will boost the economy and set the state up for success. Future of NASA Scientific Balloon Facility in Palestine in question due to proposed budget cuts Texas 2036 is a non partisan organization that uses long term data to secure Texas' future. Another push to help rural East Texans is expanding the reach for career readiness out of high school. 'To ensure and support more students becoming college and career ready. How do we ensure that they are ready for the workforce even when they're coming out of high school?' senior vice president of strategy and operations of Texas 2036, Justin Coppedge said. Coppedge said the state's economy boomed over the past few years and LEDCO president, Wayne Mansfield sees the growth in Longview. 'A lot of new construction and redevelopment occurring,' Mansfield said. Several businesses are currently expanding, still able to find employees, so I think the overall the economy is doing quite well coupled with the fact that the four school districts in our city have bond issues.' Mansfield does not believe tariffs will have a negative impact on businesses but may bring more companies. 'One positive aspect of it is that we've had a lot more inquiries from international companies looking for locations or potential locations to move out of the countries like Canada and Mexico in particular, or even Europe wanting to move their company here into Texas to get relief from the tariffs,' Mansfield said. Some people fear that foreign companies have ill intentions, but Mansfield said it gives East Texans more job opportunities. 'Generally, when companies from other countries, particularly Europe, locate in a community, they're there for the duration,' Mansfield said. 'They do not intend to leave any time. They want to come locate, become profitable, become parts of the community and stay for a long, long periods of time, ' Mansfield said.' Even though the legislative session is over, seeds have been planted at the state level, so years down the line Texans will reap the benefits. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
8 hours ago
- Yahoo
Undocumented students ask judge to let them challenge sudden loss of in-state tuition
A group of undocumented students on Wednesday asked a judge to let them intervene in a case that revoked their access to in-state tuition, the first step in their ultimate goal of overturning the ruling. The filing comes a week after the U.S. Department of Justice sued Texas over its 24-year-old law that allowed undocumented Texans who had lived in the state for three years and graduated from a Texas high school to qualify for lower tuition rates at public universities. Texas quickly agreed with the Trump administration's claim that the law was unconstitutional and asked a judge to find the law unenforceable. The quick turnaround — the whole lawsuit was resolved in less than six hours — represents a 'contrived legal challenge designed to prevent sufficient notice and robust consideration,' lawyers for these students argued in their motion. They're asking U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor to allow them to join the lawsuit and argue for why the statute should remain in effect. The Justice Department and the Texas attorney general's office oppose the motion on the grounds that the matter has been resolved and the case is terminated, court documents say. O'Connor, the George W. Bush appointee who blocked the law, has long been a favored judge for the Texas attorney general's office and conservative litigants. The Justice Department filed its lawsuit in the Wichita Falls division of the Northern District of Texas, where O'Connor hears all cases. The people who are most impacted by a lawsuit typically have a right to have their voices heard on a case, said David Coale, a Dallas appellate attorney. Getting O'Connor to agree to reopen might be a tough sell, he said, but if they're denied, they could appeal that ruling and the rest of the case alongside it, to the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 'The 5th Circuit's obviously a very conservative court, but part of that conservatism is a pretty limited view of the judicial role,' Coale said. 'So if they get a chance to argue their case there … they may have some luck.' The law, which has been in effect since 2001, grants in-state tuition to anyone who has been living in the state for three years and graduated from a Texas high school. All students who claim this benefit must sign an affidavit saying they intend to become U.S. citizens as soon as they are able; many of them are here as part of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. The motion lays out the human impact of the law's sudden reversal — a man who is reconsidering his plans to go to medical school in Texas; a woman who will have to drop out of her masters program, where she was studying to become a counselor; a teacher-in-training who will have to delay her plans to graduate and begin working. They are represented by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which said in a press release that the abrupt overturning of the law has left students scrambling. 'What happened last week – the invalidation of longstanding state law in the course of one afternoon – was an abuse of our judicial system,' said MALDEF President Thomas A. Saenz. 'Those affected by the attempted invalidation have the right to be heard on the legality of the Texas Dream Act.' Big news: 20 more speakers join the TribFest lineup! New additions include Margaret Spellings, former U.S. secretary of education and CEO of the Bipartisan Policy Center; Michael Curry, former presiding bishop and primate of The Episcopal Church; Beto O'Rourke, former U.S. Representative, D-El Paso; Joe Lonsdale, entrepreneur, founder and managing partner at 8VC; and Katie Phang, journalist and trial lawyer. Get tickets. TribFest 2025 is presented by JPMorganChase.
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Poll: Texas Republicans Oppose SB 3
Majority of Texans, Regardless of Party, Reject Ban on Hemp-Based ProductsOver Half of Texas GOP Primary Voters Fear Ban Will Empower Drug Cartels AUSTIN, Texas , June 11, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Texas Republicans are more likely to oppose than support Senate Bill 3, the bill banning hemp-based products that is now awaiting a decision from Gov. Greg Abbott. A new poll shows that 47% of Texas Republican primary voters oppose banning hemp, while 37% support a ban and 16% said they don't know. It also shows that 45% oppose banning THC, while 35% support a THC ban and 21% don't know. Opposition to a ban is even stronger among those who have an active-duty or former member of the military in their household. Despite political claims to the contrary, Texas Republicans and Democrats do not support banning hemp-derived THC. They want it regulated, restricted to adults and away from minors. But they do not want prohibition. Two independent, statistically valid polls have now shown that bans like SB 3 are deeply unpopular, especially among the very voters who will determine the future of Republican leadership in Texas. Last week, the Texas Hemp Business Council (THBC) delivered 5,000 handwritten letters and a petition with more than 118,000 signatures to Governor Abbott, urging him to veto SB 3 and save the 53,000 Texas jobs connected to hemp. 'Texans do not want SB 3,' said Mark Bordas, executive director of THBC. 'Texans recognize SB 3 for what it is: an attack on the rights and liberties of Texans that will destroy tens of thousands of jobs. We respectfully ask the Governor to listen to veterans, small business owners, Republican primary voters and others who want him to veto this heavy-handed bill. We went out of our way to conduct the most credible poll possible, in which the segment of the voting population least likely to support our cause was queried. Even among Republican primary voters, SB 3 and its ban are highly unpopular. This is not a Republican or a Democrat issue — it's about preserving economic and individual freedoms, which all Texans cherish.' SB 3 would force Texans who use hemp-based products to seek those products through illicit, unsafe black markets. It will also create havoc and uncertainty for farmers, small business owners, and others who have devoted years of their careers to safe hemp-based poll was commissioned by THBC and conducted by respected Texas Republican pollster Chris Perkins of Ragnar Research Partners. It also found: More than two-thirds of Republican primary voters (72%) believe military veterans should be able to access THC products as an alternative to opioids. 53% of Republican primary voters believe a ban will create opportunities for drug cartels. 55% of Republican primary voters believe a ban will increase black market sales. The poll of Texas Republicans reinforces the message of a broader statewide poll conducted by Baselice & Associates in March: 68% of Texas likely voters support legal THC hemp products with strict regulations, while just 20% support a ban. Republican voters prefer regulated legality (57%) over prohibition (29%), and support climbs even higher among independents (72%) and younger voters (76%), the Baselice poll found. Seniors, too, reject prohibition by double-digit margins. 'These highly credible polls clearly show where voters stand, while some groups are pushing false and misleading narratives to support SB 3, hoping that more Texans would turn to alcohol if hemp-based products were banned,' added Bordas. 'Every month in Texas, nearly 90 lives are lost to alcohol-related crashes, over 1,000 each year. Nationwide, alcohol ranks among the leading preventable causes of death. Hemp products, which are already regulated at the state and federal levels, offer popular alternative that many Texans rely on. Our industry also continues to support additional safeguards, including banning sales to anyone under 21 and setbacks from schools. Texans deserve legal choices, not fear-driven policies that push them toward more dangerous substances.' The Ragnar Research Partners poll of 800 likely Republican primary voters was conducted June 2-4 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points. About the Texas Hemp Business Council The Texas Hemp Business Council is an industry organization dedicated to promoting the hemp-based cannabinoid industry in Texas, while advocating for consumer safety, education and stakeholder engagement. More information is available at Media Contact: George Medici/Natalie MuPondelWilkinson or nmu@ in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
