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HAYLI’S
LAW WOULD PROTECT LEMONADE STANDS FROM GOVERNMENT IN ILLINOIS
Illinois Policy Institute/
Vincent Caruso
When a child’s lemonade stand was targeted
by government regulators, the 11-year-old entrepreneur fought back. Now
Illinois is about to bar government from interfering with a child’s
right to sell cold summer drinks. |
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 Illinois’ children may soon be safe to sell lemonade without
fear of government overreach.
Hayli’s Law unanimously passed the Illinois House May 26 after passing the
Illinois Senate in April. It will next be sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker to be
signed into law to ensure children under 16 can run a lemonade stand without a
permit or license.
In 2017, Hayli Martenez started her Haylibug Lemonade stand to raise money for
her college fund with the help of her mom, Iva. In a violent neighborhood where
people are reluctant to go out, Hayli brought together her Kankakee, Illinois,
neighbors as she happily sold 50-cent cups of lemonade.
“It was kind of scary [at first] because we liked to stay in the house. We
didn’t like to come outside because of all the stuff happening around here,”
Hayli said previously. “As we kept doing it, I got to see everybody smile when
they tasted my lemonade. It was just … wow. They were lining up to get my
lemonade.”
Shortly after being profiled in the Kankakee Daily Journal, city and county
health department officials paid the 11-year-old a visit and told her to shut
down the stand or face fines. They cited the lack of water and sewer service to
the Martenez’s home – the result of a billing dispute – even though bottled
water for the lemonade was purchased at the grocery store.
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Illinois is one of 16 states that do not require
permits for lemonade stands, according to Country Time Lemonade. SB
0112, filed by state Sen. Patrick Joyce, D-Essex, would ensure local
government does not try to stop children from selling non-alcoholic
mixed beverages on private property or in public parks.
Hayli’s case follows that of another 11-year-old
girl in Madison County who was told she could no longer continue her
$200-a-month cupcake business. That inspired the 2014 “Cupcake Law,”
which allows home bakeries to operate without professional
certification as long as the baker labels items and doesn’t make
over $1,000 a month. However, counties must approve the law before
it can go into effect. Only eight had enacted it by 2018, and it was
recently enacted by River Forest and Bradley.
“A lot of little girls around here might not want to start a
business,” Hayli had said. “But I know that they can. And they would
actually love to.”
Illinois has a reputation for making business harder than it needs
to be for entrepreneurs, even though small businesses create 69% of
net jobs in the state. All kids deserve the chance to learn
entrepreneurship from an early age, so Hayli’s Law is a good step
towards making that happen.
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