mobile food vendors; licensure, the official text

PREFILED    JAN 02 2026

REFERENCE TITLE: mobile food vendors; licensure

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

HB 2118

Introduced by

Representative
Carter N

AN
ACT

Amending section 36-1761, Arizona
Revised Statutes; relating to mobile food vendors.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 36-1761, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE36-1761. Mobile food vendors; mobile food units; rules; health and safety
licensing standards

A. The director shall adopt rules that do all of the
following:

1. Establish health and safety licensing standards
for mobile food vendors and mobile food units that apply on a statewide
basis. The licensing standards shall:

(a) Include three categories of mobile food units
that are based on the type of food dispensed and the amount of handling and
preparation required.

(b) Include general physical and operation
requirements of a mobile food unit, including:

(i) Installation of compressors, generators and
similar mechanical units that are not an integral part of the food preparation
or storage equipment.

(ii) Necessary commissary or other servicing area
agreements.

(iii) Vehicle and equipment cleaning requirements.

(iv) Waste disposal requirements during and after
operation on public or private property, which may not include the size or
dimensions of any required solid waste receptacle.

2. Establish statewide inspection standards that are
based on objective factors for use by the county health departments.

3. Establish a licensing process for mobile food
units that does all of the following:

(a) Requires a separate license for each mobile food
unit.

(b) Requires a license to be renewed annually.

(c) Delegates to the county health department in the
county where the mobile food vendor's commissary is located the licensing and
health and safety inspection for state licensure using the statewide inspection
standards adopted pursuant to this section. The licensing process shall
require random inspections by county health departments at no additional cost
except as provided in section 11-269.24. A mobile food unit
license issued by a county health department pursuant to this section shall
have reciprocity in each county of this state. A county health
department may enforce the statewide inspection standards regardless of where
the license was issued.

(d) Requires all employees of a mobile food vendor
to have a valid food handler card or a certificate from an accredited food
handler training class as specified in rule by the department.

(e) Requires that the license be displayed in the
mobile food vendor's operating location in a conspicuous location for public
view.

B. The rules adopted pursuant to this section may
not do either of the following:

1. Require a mobile food vendor or mobile food unit
to operate a specific distance from the perimeter of an existing commercial
establishment or restaurant.

2. Address the operating hours of a mobile food
unit.

C. Except as otherwise specified in this chapter,
the director may adopt rules that are substantively the same as the regulations
that are in place on August 3, 2018 in Maricopa county regarding mobile food
establishments.

[D. This section does not preclude a
city, town or county from requiring a mobile food vendor to be licensed if the
licensing system includes a background check or identification and
fingerprinting of the owner of the mobile food vending operation.]