Establishes a cap on the amount of money municipalities within the county of Erie may annually charge a mobile food vendor

BILL NUMBER:S537B

Title of bill

An act to amend the general business law, in relation to establishing fees for mobile food vendors; and providing for the repeal of such provisions upon the expiration thereof

Purpose

This bill will place an annual cap on the amount of fees municipalities in Erie County can charge on mobile food trucks and mobile food truck vendors.

Summary of provisions

Section 1 amends section 391 of the general business law by adding a new section S that establishes that municipalities in Erie County may not charge a mobile food vendor an annual fee of more than two hundred fifty dollars per mobile vending vehicle.

Section 1 also defines mobile food vendors as any person who hawks, peddles, sells, or offers food for sale at retail in any public space and such food items are presented to the public in a mobile vehicle, such as, but not limited to, a pushcart, car, van, or truck. Additionally, Section 1 excludes any person who is solely delivering food that has been previously ordered and purchased from an established retail location.

Section 2 provides that this act shall take effect immediately and shall sunset after two years.

Justification

Food trucks are a growing industry throughout the state, particularly in Western New York. This legislation imposes a car) of $250 on the annual fees a municipality in Erie County can charge. Many local towns, villages and cities currently impose heavily inflated fees on these small businesses, which limits their growth potential and mobility. Food truck licensing fees vary across the state, but often far outweigh fees charged on brick and mortar restaurants, sometimes by hundreds of dollars. Because they are a new and quickly growing industry, municipalities often develop regulations and fee schedules from scratch and without comparison or consultation with their peers throughout the state.

To curb this, and to set in place a more uniform standard for food trucks, this legislation limits the amount of annual fees in Erie County to $250. In Cleveland, mobile food vendors pay a $100 permit fee and food truck managers must purchase a $60 identification badge from the city, Chicago, a city with a population of 2.7 million, charges $660 for a two-year permit.

In comparison, the City of Buffalo currently charges mobile food truck vendors a fee of $1,000, far above the national norm and prohibitive to the growth and expansion of this industry. This cap is both necessary and practical, affording this growing industry the ability to reach its full potential.

Legislative history

2012: S.7860 Referred to Rules

Fiscal implications

None to the state.

Effective date

This act shall take effect immediately and shall expire and be deemed repealed two years after such effective date.