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Senate Bill 145 advances after hearing arguing children’s lemonade stands should not require business licenses
Summary
Senate Bill 145, sponsored by Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, would prohibit local governments and health departments from requiring business licenses for children’s businesses; sponsor said the bill responds to a Jefferson County episode that halted kids selling lemonade and cookies.
Senate Bill 145 would prohibit the imposition of business-license requirements on enterprises operated by people age 18 or younger, Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman told the Missouri House Commerce Committee during a public hearing.
“Anybody who hasn't had a chance to visit Kimswick should come and visit. ... Some of the kids wanted to sell homemade goods … lemonade stands, cookie stands,” Coleman said, describing an entrepreneurship fair in Kimswick. She told the committee she sought the bill after the Jefferson County health department would not issue a one-day permit for the children’s lemonade stands without a health inspection and a business license. “This I submit to you should never have been a Senate bill,” Coleman said.
Committee members largely praised the concept and asked whether the bill’s age language and geographic scope produced unintended consequences. Representative Gregg asked whether the exemption would apply to “any business 18 and under,” giving the example of a highly successful Internet business started by a teen; Coleman and other members clarified that the bill removes a requirement for business licenses and does not change general contract, tort or other liability rules that apply to minors. Coleman said the bill’s age language mirrors existing statutory phrasing and that she did not plan to reduce the age threshold to 16.
Representative Miller asked whether the bill’s phrasing (“18 years or younger”) could be read to include adults of age 18; Coleman said the drafting follows other statutory language and that her preference was to keep the age wording consistent with existing statutes to avoid sending the bill back for redrafting.
Representative Seitz asked whether the bill applies statewide; Coleman answered it is statewide and would cover municipal corporations and constitutional charter cities. Seitz also questioned how local public-health boards are constituted; Coleman said health boards in charter counties are elected boards that hire a director; she said there had been grassroots efforts to replace some health-board members in recent elections.
Coleman said she had initially sought broader exemptions on the Senate floor that would have benefited hobbyists and raised the hobbyist exemption threshold, but she removed those provisions to secure passage out of the Senate. “I'd like to, there's not a tax cut that I have ever been opposed to,” she said, but the final bill did not include the hobbyist-tax threshold changes.
The committee took no recorded vote on SB 145 during the hearing; Coleman’s presentation concluded with the chair thanking her and the committee moved on to other items.
