Community Impact reports that the passage of House Bill 2012, which will allow counties to enforce regulations against roadside vendors got a positive response from officials across Montgomery County.
State Representatives Cecil Bell Jr. from Magnolia and Janis Holt from Liberty put forth the bill which allows counties with a population over 600,000 people to issue regulations against roadside vendors. That is, if the county is adjacent to a county with a population of more than 4 million people such as Harris County.
Montgomery County Precinct 4 Commissioner Matt Gray said, “Every day, we see more individuals panhandling or selling unregulated food and merchandise from the median of busy county roads.” He added that, “This law gives our county the tools to protect drivers, reduce traffic hazards, and crack down on vendors who ignore health, tax and safety rules.”
In the Woodlands township, the new bill will also help with regulating roadside vendors.
Following concerns regarding the lack of official regulations across the county for roadside vendors and rental developments, HB 2012 was authored following concerns from Montgomery County commissioners. Under the former bill’s wording, only counties whose population was over 1.3 million were allowed to put regulations on roadside vendors like live animal distributors and food trucks.
