SB 167: Food Truck Freedom, Take Two

This bill passed the Senate unanimously and the House with a vote of 67-1.

Last year, the Utah Legislature passed a “food truck freedom” bill nearly unanimously. This law streamlines and reduces redundant regulations imposed on food truck owners, and has saved tens of thousands of dollars in fines and compliance costs for these small business owners in the short time it has existed.

Unfortunately, many cities are not following the law.

At the time of writing, three cities—Midvale, Woods Cross, and Highland—completely ban food trucks in violation of state law.

And despite the law stating that cities and counties must “reduce the amount of the business licensing fee to an amount that accounts for the lower administrative burden,” many cities are stubbornly refusing to reduce their fees for reciprocal licenses—basically, a requirement that they merely check that a truck owner has a license and inspections already done from their initial city (a process one could do in 15 minutes or less).

• Centerville does not charge a food truck business license, but they do charge a $250 temporary use fee
• Clinton charges over $200 as a conditional use fee
• Hurricane charges $75 fee for a reciprocal license
• Kaysville makes food truck owners from other cities $215 fee (plus a $100 bond)
• Murray imposes a $110 reciprocal license fee
• Ogden charges $100 and makes truck owners renew every 90 days
• Sandy requires a $110 fee

To correct these and other issues that have arisen in the past year, Senator Deidre Henderson is again sponsoring “food truck freedom” legislation, this time as Senate Bill 167.

This bill enacts further restrictions on cities and counties as it pertains to licensing food truck owners, whose businesses of necessity span many different municipalities in Utah’s corridor of clustered communities. We hope that all municipalities will be compliant once this added legislation passes.