Springfield: Kids, No More Selling Lemon-aid without $205 permit and Training Course

Soapbox time for me. Yes, this one makes me very angry. The politicians in Springfield need to get their act together. Remember those good old days as a kid when you had a lemon-aid stand and sold lemon-aid and cupcakes in front of your house? Do you recall having to get a permit to do so, of course not!

Proposed legislation that would allow a Madison County girl to sell cupcakes from her home kitchen was defeated in the Illinois Senate Tuesday.

The State Journal Registerreports that House Bill 5348, known as the “Cupcake Girl bill,” was rejected by a 32-17 vote over concerns that Senate amendments tacked onto the original bill would unfairly stifle entrepreneurship.

If you are not familiar with the Cupcake Girl controversy here it is in a nutshell: A 12-year girl, Chloe Stirling, had her home cupcake business shut down by Madison County officials after they determined she was operating out of a home kitchen not approved under current health guidelines.

The proposed legislation (as it stands now) requires individuals selling baked goods from home kitchens to have taken a food-handling class in order to receive a Food Service Sanitation Management Certificate approved by the Department of Public Health. Also, it would require them register the home kitchen with local officials.

The class, certificate and registration would end up costing individuals a total of $205.

Rockford Area State Senator Dave Syverson remarked on his Facebook page on Monday:

Cupcake Update: Senate Democrats today again rejected a simple compromise we offered to allow children to sell cupcakes or have lemonade stands without having to take 8 hour course, get licensed, and follow all state labeling guidelines (and people wonder why Illlinois is last in job creation) ..... However public pressure is growing on the Gov and Senate Dems to back down and support common sense reform that leaves our kids alone. The good news, thanks to your calls a number of Dems switched today. We will try again tomorrow."

Let's hope Dave is right and the Illinois politicians get their act together.