Brooks Landgraf<\/a>, R-Odessa, authored this bill after he spoke with food truck owners in his district about how they were losing profit to pay for so many cities\u2019 licensing fees. What he thought was an issue unique to his community was actually a statewide issue.<\/p>\n\u201cIn many cases, they want to do business in different jurisdictions, different towns, different communities, different counties, and they found themselves having to get basically the same inspection for the same type of permit in multiple jurisdictions. Even though the standards weren\u2019t all that different in most cases, but it was really just an additional fee that had to be paid for something that had already been done,\u201d Landgraf said<\/p>\n
Landgraf also talked with local governmental bodies. Landgraf maintains that cities and counties can still require businesses to follow their local fire codes and zoning laws so that local officials can still decide where food trucks can locate.<\/p>\n
The bill doesn\u2019t require cities and counties to aid in any inspections. Though, local health departments have the option to choose to partner with the state to conduct these inspections. If they choose to help they are reimbursed for the work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is absolutely still local control,\u201d Landgraf said. \u201cThe bill that we passed last year \u2026 really only has to do with the health inspection permit authority.\u201d<\/p>\n
Currently, in Amarillo there are 233 licensed food trucks. Prior to the implementation of the bill, food trucks were charged between $800 and $900 dollars, which equated to an estimate of $185,000 per year for the city.<\/p>\n
In Amarillo, Darcy Marvin, owner of Sweet Sipz, which sells desserts and dressed up sodas, has the same issues as Eloisa\u2019s Food Truck Kitchen: too many permit fees that take away from generating revenue.<\/p>\n
Marvin said she has to pay double the permitting fee that Amarillo charges because she owns both a truck and trailer. In addition to the fees she pays to multiple cities, she winds up paying $3,000 per year.<\/p>\n
\u201cThree to five percent of my profit went to permits and fees,\u201d Marvin said.<\/p>\n
Additionally, when they want to travel to a new city, food truck owners have to head there ahead of time to undergo inspections. City health inspectors will test the overall cleanliness of these food trucks. Inspectors will check the temperatures of fridges to ensure food is being stored properly. They\u2019ll check for running hot water, how waste is being disposed of, and even how these businesses are storing wet rags. It\u2019s a lengthy process that requires lengthy preparation and food truck owners to shut down business for the day.<\/p>\n
The new statewide permit \u201cfrees up more money that we can use for ourselves or to grow our business because we\u2019re not paying the fees every year,\u201d Marvin said.<\/p>\n
While many of these small business owners are excited about the new statewide license, some local government officials are concerned. Georgetown mayor Josh Schroeder says the government operates best at the local level, and there weren\u2019t any local officials who asked for this change.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are just opposed to any movement to strip local control and take that and move that authority to the state level,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Officials from multiple urban counties and cities have said they also fear the new statewide food truck program would create an unfunded mandate. While the state will not require cities and counties to conduct inspections, local public health officials said they expect to have some role in responding to food truck violations even though they will not be able to collect revenue from food truck permits.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes, we anticipate continuing to respond to complaints and assist with investigations. This will present challenges, as we may be required to allocate staff time and resources without the associated revenue previously used to support these functions,\u201d said Edrea Au, spokesperson for Dallas County Health and Human Services Department, which oversees 758 food trucks in its jurisdiction.<\/p>\n
Travis County has about 2,000 licensed food trucks, which generated about $610,000 for the city of Austin in fiscal year 2025, according to Austin Public Health officials. Even with the lost revenue, Austin public health officials said they will work with DSHS and local food trucks to transition to the new statewide licensing program. They fear shifting oversight to the state will delay responses to food truck violations.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor larger cities like Austin, they lose some local authority, which limits their ability to tailor public\u2011health oversight to community needs, particularly on the loss of local enforcement. By shifting enforcement to the state level, imminent public health hazards will take more time to address than if the oversight had remained with local municipalities,\u201d said William Malm, spokesperson for Austin Public Health.<\/p>\n
DSHS estimates the state will make up to $17 million per year from the new statewide permit. The agency notes some food trucks, such as those selling prepackaged foods, haven\u2019t had to pay for permitting fees in some jurisdictions and will now have to pay the statewide licensing fees to operate.<\/p>\n
Even so, state officials expect most food trucks will benefit financially from the new license.<\/p>\n
Being able to travel more freely without worrying about getting permits and inspections everywhere will allow them to increase their visibility across the state, food truck owners said.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy having this license and being able to go to any part, anywhere without having to go and spend more money in order to work in that city. It just opens up a lot of doors because now we can accept more events,\u201d Schlesser said.<\/p>\n
Source: Zahiyah Carter,\u00a0The Texas Tribune<\/p>\n
Photo Credit: Eloisa Schessler outside of her food truck, Eloisa\u2019s Kitchen, located at Klyde Warren Park near downtown Dallas, on March 12, 2026.\u00a0Ben Torres for the Texas Tribune<\/p>\n
The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans \u2014 and engages with them \u2014 about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Business owners are applauding the new law because currently, anytime they want to operate in another city or…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":237199,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103],"class_list":{"0":"post-237198","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237198"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237198\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/237199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}