Children's lemonade stands no longer require permits in NJ
Mike Deak
MyCentralJersey.com
A bipartisan bill to eliminate the squeeze on children's lemonade stands was signed into law on Monday by Gov. Phil Murphy.
The legislation expands the "Right to Shovel" law sponsored by Sen. Michael Doherty, R-Warren, to any type of child-run business by prohibiting municipalities from requiring a child to obtain a license or permit to operate a temporary business.
Doherty, a sponsor of the new law, said there have been stories across the nation about children being "harassed" by local governments for running lemonade stands without proper permits.
"Instead of providing space for kids to learn about entrepreneurship, they're being taught harsh lessons about the heavy hand of government by overzealous bureaucrats," Doherty said in a statement.
The state senator said that the reasons municipalities gave to require permits was "absolute nonsense."
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"Nobody is getting sick because a 6-year-old's lemonade stand didn't get a health inspection, and professional vendors aren't being driven out of business by the $5 a child might collect from supportive neighbors," Doherty's statement said. "Unfortunately, those are the exact excuses towns have used to put the smackdown on entrepreneurial kids from coast to coast."
The "Right to Shovel" was enacted in 2016 after a pair of Bound Brook teenagers drew national attention after they were stopped by police and told they couldn't go door to do or without a permit to solicit snow shoveling business in advance of a snowstorm the next day.
"No child should have their creativity and hard work discouraged by legal requirements that are intended for much more complex, adult-run businesses," Assemblyman Robert Karabinchak, D-Middlesex, one of the legislation's co-sponsors, said in a statement. "There's no harm in letting children run a small, temporary business without a permit, especially when the fees would take away from their limited earnings."
The new law also applies to kids who are paid to mow neighborhood lawns.
Email: mdeak@mycentraljersey.com
Mike Deak is a reporter for mycentraljersey.com. To get unlimited access to his articles on Somerset and Hunterdon counties, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.