Title
Consider an ordinance amending the Code of Ordinances Chapter 20, Article II, Itinerant Peddlers, Merchants, Etc., to amend regulations related to Itinerant Vendors.
Body
DATE: January 6, 2026
TO: Kent Cagle, City Manager
FROM: Holli Clements, City Attorney
SUBJECT: Ordinance Amending Itinerant Vendor Regulations
BACKGROUND AND FINDINGS:
The Itinerant Vendor ordinance establishes guidelines and restrictions relating to itinerant vendors, merchants and peddlers who do not have a fixed place of business in the city or who conduct a business from any truck, trailer, mobile home, or other vehicle who go door to door or place to place selling or soliciting orders for goods, wares, or merchandise.
In 2025, the state legislature passed HB 2844, which among other things, adopted revisions to Chapter 437 of the Texas Health and Safety Code requiring a state license to operate a food truck. The bill provides that a municipality may not prohibit the operation of a mobile food vendor who holds a mobile food vendor license and complies with all other state and local laws not in conflict with said Chapter. This part of the bill will go into effect July 1, 2026. Since mobile food vendors will be regulated by the state, the proposed ordinance would exclude mobile food vendors who hold a state mobile food vendor license from the requirement to obtain a city Itinerant Vendor permit. The ordinance would also exclude any vendor who has a vendor permit in connection with city-hosted event. The purpose of these changes is to eliminate duplication in state and city permitting requirements.
Additionally, the proposed ordinance would add the sale of services to the list of door to door or place to place sales that must be permitted so that these sales would be treated the same as sales of goods, wares and merchandise.
THE ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED:
N/A
Which alternative is recommended? Why?
Staff recommend that the City Council adopt the ordinance amendi...
Click here for full text