[Reason] New Hampshire and Illinois Are Legalizing Unlicensed Lemonade Stands

smells like . . . freedom

https://reason.com/2021/07/23/new-hampshire-and-illinois-are-legalizing-unlicensed-lemonade-stands/

Illinois and New Hampshire both recently passed bills to legalize a favorite American summer tradition: lemonade stands operated by kids.

New Hampshire's bill passed the legislature last week and is awaiting a signature from Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. It allows kids under the age of 14 to sell soft drinks on their private property without getting licenses or permits from cities and towns that otherwise require them. The term "soft drink" includes not only lemonade but also other mixed, non-alcoholic beverages.

The bill received a surprising amount of pushback in the state legislature. The applicable age was 18 when the bill was introduced but was later amended to 14. Some state legislators also thought that the bill was unnecessary, as there has never been a publicized incident of an authority shuttering an unlicensed lemonade stand in the past.

"This seems to me like one of those solutions in search of a problem," Senate Minority Leader Donna Soucy (D) told WMUR.

But just because this tolerated illegality hasn't caused a problem yet, doesn't mean that it won't cause a problem in the future if the bill doesn't become law. Consider the incident in Illinois that spurred Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker to sign a similar bill two weeks ago.

In 2017, then 9-year-old Hayli Martenez opened a lemonade stand in her front yard in a low-income neighborhood of Kankakee, Illinois. She charged 50 cents per cup. All of the profit went to her college fund.

"As we kept doing it, I got to see everybody smile when they tasted my lemonade," Hayli told Illinois Policy. "It was just … wow. They were lining up to get my lemonade."

But in July of 2019, Hayli received notice from state and city health officials that she would have to shut down the stand or be fined. She ended up switching the stand to donation-only, but the incident received state-wide attention.

Now, roughly two years later, the state has passed "Hayli's Law" to protect her business and those of other entrepreneurial kids around the state.

"Who would have thought you would need a lemonade law?" said Hayli's mom Iva. "But it wasn't about the lemonade. It was about being able to take what you have and make it work for you. We turned lemons into lemonade."

"Notwithstanding any other provision of law," the Illinois law reads, "the Department of Public Health, the health department of a unit of local government, or a public health district may not regulate the sale of lemonade or nonalcoholic drinks or mixed beverages by a person under the age of 16."

This is not an isolated incident. Reason has reported on similar cases across the country for years.

The necessity of these "Lemonade Laws" is a byproduct of hastily passed licensure requirements and regulations that don't take into account the full consequences of their enforcement. Oftentimes, irregular enforcement of these requirements can be used to shut down businesses arbitrarily deemed to be "undesirable."

Hopefully, these small steps for lemonade stands will draw attention to the overly broad licensing requirements that defy both common sense and the entrepreneurial spirit of America.​

 

that makes no sense. The thread is about lemonade

 

the law is a ass—a idiot

 

all I did was post the article. I also like lemonade

 

related

https://www.nationalreview.com/2021/07/its-time-to-allow-bourbon-in-our-mailboxes/

It’s Time to Allow Bourbon in Our Mailboxes
By C. JARRETT DIETERLE

July 26, 2021 6:30 AM
In 2021, American alcohol laws remain needlessly complex and archaic. It’s time to move toward a freer and more commonsense system.

Americans can be forgiven for being confused. In many places, you can now get a margarita delivered to your door from the local Mexican restaurant; the brewery down the street can drop off a growler; and you can get a bottle of wine in your weekly InstaCart order. But if you try to order a bottle of whiskey from your favorite Tennessee distillery, it suddenly all goes awry.

Americans on both the left and the right are tired of our nation’s hopelessly convoluted alcohol laws. COVID-19 has ushered in an era of unprecedented boozy deliveries dropped off at our doorsteps, but the revolution is far from complete. Although over 40 states allow wineries to mail their wine to consumers, only a small handful of states permit distilleries or breweries to do so. This nonsensical distinction does more than confuse consumers; it also creates arbitrary winners and losers in the marketplace.

While the pandemic has led to a wave of reforms that allow local restaurants, grocery stores, and alcohol producers to hand-deliver products to our homes, shipping beer or liquor in the mail remains nearly impossible. The United States Postal Service entirely forbids the shipment of alcohol through its channels, and barely a dozen states allow the mailing of liquor or beer.

Unsurprisingly, consumers are becoming increasingly vocal about their support for alcohol shipping. The Distilled Spirits Council just released a survey indicating that 80 percent of Americans think distillers should be permitted to ship liquor to consumers’ doorsteps.

Yet change remains frustratingly slow. To get to a truly online, national shipping market for alcohol, both Congress and state lawmakers need to act. Congress should pass now-pending legislation to allow the post office to send alcohol, and each state needs to treat wine, beer, and liquor equally when it comes to shipping.

Kentucky, the birthplace of bourbon, passed a comprehensive reform to do just that during the pandemic. Seven other states temporarily green-lighted in-state liquor shipments during COVID, showing that there’s nothing inherently dangerous about shipping alcohol.

Despite this, most states restrict alcohol from being shipped via mail within state borders and are particularly skeptical about alcohol shipped from other states. This legal structure stretches far backinto American history.

During Prohibition, as more and more states voted to go dry, they ran into a problem: Neighboring wet states were still illegally shipping in trainloads of alcohol. In response, state governments, and ultimately Congress, grew increasingly aggressive trying to crack down on interstate alcohol shipments. After Prohibition was repealed, this anti-shipping sentiment did not die away.

State governments still maintain a whole host of anti-outsider laws when it comes to booze. In some states, liquor store owners must be residents of the state in which they are operating — though this was recently ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Other states have laws that allow only in-state alcohol producers to mail alcohol — not out-of-state ones.

Whenever a set of laws traces its origin to the pre-Prohibition era, over a century ago, it means it is time to modernize. We’re no longer living in a world where we need to restrict alcohol from flooding into dry states, and we operate in an Internet-infused economy in which Americans want and expect everything to be delivered to their doors. If we already are allowing pharmaceutical drugs, ammunition, and pesticides to be shipped via the mail, why not alcohol?

In our post-COVID new-normal, many Americans will be legally allowed to order a hand-delivered bottle of rum from the local distillery, but not one mailed from that same distillery — and especially not one mailed from the next state over. At least they’ll be able to wash away their sorrows with a to-go mojito from the local bar.

In 2021, American alcohol laws remain needlessly complex and archaic. It’s time to move toward a freer and more commonsense system. Which means it is time to allow bourbon in your mailbox.

C. JARRETT DIETERLE is the director of commercial freedom and a senior fellow at the R Street Institute.
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