Texas HB 2844: The July 1 Cutover Happened — Here's Where You Stand

The cutover happened. On July 1, 2026, every local city and county mobile-food health permit in Texas became void — no grandfathering, no phase-out — and a single statewide license issued by the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS) took their place. Roughly 19,000 operators are now working through a first-year system that DSHS itself is still standing up. Here's where you stand, and what to do about it.

Where You Stand: Category 1 or Category 2

The transition splits every operator into one of two categories, and everything about your next step depends on which one you're in:

• Category 1 — you held a local mobile-food health permit on June 30, 2026. Apply and pay on the DSHS Online Licensing portal, and you may keep operating while you wait. Until your license card arrives, your legal authority to operate is literally paperwork: keep the printed application summary and payment receipt on the vehicle. If you haven't applied, you are operating unlicensed right now — your old permit is gone.
• Category 2 — new operator, or your permit had lapsed. You cannot operate until you pass a DSHS pre-licensing inspection. New operators are prioritized in scheduling — DSHS has targeted roughly 14 days. Apply, pay, schedule, pass — in that order.

One ordering note that trips people up: the state license replaced local health permits only. Your city fire permit, zoning, parking ordinances, and grease rules are all still local. Get the state health license sorted first, then work the local fire and ordinance layer — that's the order the requirements actually flow in.

What Is HB 2844?

HB 2844 was passed by the 89th Texas Legislature and signed by Governor Abbott on June 20, 2025.¹ It creates a brand-new chapter of Texas law — Texas Health and Safety Code Chapter 437B — devoted entirely to the licensing and inspection of mobile food vendors in Texas.¹

The core change is straightforward: mobile food vendors must now obtain an annual license from DSHS for statewide operation, with licensing, inspection, and enforcement under DSHS jurisdiction — and local authority preempted regarding anything conflicting with HSC Chapter 437B.¹

Who Does This Affect?

Under HB 2844, a "mobile food vendor" is defined as any person who dispenses food or beverages from a food vending vehicle for immediate service or consumption, where a "food vending vehicle" means any vehicle that operates as a food service establishment and is designed to be readily movable.¹

If that describes your operation — food truck, trailer, cart, or mobile unit — you need this license. DSHS estimates approximately 19,000 small businesses in Texas will be subject to the new rules.² That includes long-established operators who assumed their local permits still covered them after July 1. They don't — those permits are void.

The Three-Tier Classification System

One of the most significant things HB 2844 introduces is a risk-based tier system that determines your license fee, inspection requirements, and compliance obligations. The three tiers, as defined in the adopted rules:²

If you cook to order on the truck — a grill, a fryer, a stovetop — you're Type III under the adopted rules. That surprised operators who read early drafts where cook-to-order looked like Type II. Pushcarts are licensed by what they serve (usually Type I or II) and always require a central preparation facility. If you're not sure which tier applies, that's the first question to answer — your classification drives everything else.

What It Costs

The numbers below are what you actually pay applying online — the adopted rule's base fees ($300 / $600 / $850) plus the ~3% Texas.gov portal surcharge (25 TAC §226.4(e)(1), (i)). Press coverage citing $258 or the bare base fees is working from stale drafts:²

For a typical cook-on-board truck — Type III under the adopted rules — that's $876 for the application plus $500 for the pre-licensing inspection before a new (Category 2) operator can legally operate: roughly $1,376 upfront, with another $500 routine inspection prepaid at renewal. A Type II limited-prep unit runs $618 + $400. Late renewal adds $100. Complaint and compliance inspections are an additional cost if triggered — another reason to stay clean.

Key Dates

The deadline has passed, but the system is anything but settled: applications are staggered, inspection scheduling is catching up, and a Category 1 operator's "license" is a printed application summary and receipt riding on the truck. Year one is chaotic by design — which makes knowing your exact status more valuable, not less.

Commissaries, Local Ordinances, and What HB 2844 Actually Changes

You may not need a commissary — but you need to document your water and waste. This is one of the most misunderstood parts of HB 2844, and the actual rule is more nuanced than most summaries suggest.

The default under §226.6(c) is that an MFV must operate from a Central Preparation Facility (CPF) — what most operators know as a commissary. But the adopted rules include a genuine exemption (§226.6(c)(3)). To operate without a CPF, an operator must satisfy every one of the following conditions simultaneously:²

• On-vehicle equipment is sufficient in number and capacity for all required temperature control
• Food storage prevents cross-contamination
• Warewashing compartments are properly sized for the largest equipment and utensils
• Potable water comes from an approved source — explicitly cannot be an untested well or private residence
• Grey water, cooking waste, and grease must be removed at a facility approved for waste servicing or by a sewage transport vehicle
• Records documenting approved water sources and waste disposal locations must be kept on the vehicle at all times and cover the current licensing cycle
• TxDOT weight records for the unit are maintained

And whether you keep a commissary or claim the exemption: keep a dated water/waste servicing log. Inspectors can ask for it under §226.8(c)(4), and the conditions above are checked at inspection — the exemption is something you demonstrate, not something you declare.

The tier implications here are real. Type I operators have the clearest path — a separate provision (§226.6(b)(3)) exempts operators selling only prepackaged food or non-TCS beverages from water and sewage system requirements entirely, making the CPF exemption straightforward to satisfy. Type II operators running cook-serve operations could qualify if they can document approved water and waste sources. Type III operators face a significantly harder case: the grey water volume, cooking waste, and grease that comes with complex preparation makes the full exemption difficult to satisfy in practice without some form of commissary relationship.

The critical point for operators considering the exemption: you still need to dispose of grey water at an approved facility regardless. In many cases that will effectively mean using a commissary — just without a formal agreement or letter of authorization. What changes is the paper trail: approved source records must be on the vehicle, current, and available to inspectors at any time.

Local ordinances still apply — partially. Under §226.1(c)(2), mobile food vendors must still comply with all local ordinances that do not conflict with HSC Chapter 437B or Chapter 226.² Local rules around where you can park, hours, noise, and other operational matters remain in force where they don't duplicate or conflict with the new DSHS framework.

What You Need to Do Now

One Benefit Worth Knowing

Here's something most operators haven't heard yet: for trucks that operate across city or county lines, HB 2844 may actually simplify your life.

Under the old system, operating in multiple Texas cities often meant navigating separate permit requirements in each jurisdiction. The new statewide license covers your operation across Texas — and DSHS will maintain a statewide database accessible to local jurisdictions, containing names of licensed MFVs, inspection results, and operator itineraries.¹ Local jurisdictions can see your status, which reduces the friction of proving compliance in every new market you serve.

If expansion has been on your radar, getting your statewide license sorted sooner is a reason to move, not wait.

A New Requirement With Real Teeth

This one deserves more attention than most HB 2844 summaries have given it. The rules include a location notification requirement that appears in two places — once in the licensing application (§226.4(c)(1)(G)) and again in the inspections subchapter (§226.8(d)) — and it comes with enforcement consequences that go beyond a simple paperwork obligation.²

The full text of §226.8(d) reads:

The reason for the requirement becomes clear in the next two subsections: DSHS needs to be able to locate MFVs for randomized health inspections. If an MFV cannot be found using the provided itinerary, the license may be subject to suspension or revocation.² This isn't a transparency measure — it's an inspection access mechanism with license revocation as the backstop.

Practically, posting your schedule to social media or your website is the path of least friction. An operator who already posts their weekly location schedule on Instagram is already compliant with the spirit of this rule. An operator with no online presence — more common in rural Texas markets — will need to submit itineraries directly to DSHS in whatever format the department prescribes, and the seven-day advance notice window means you can't just text your location to an inspector the morning of service.

The full compliance picture for this requirement won't be clear until DSHS finalizes the submission format and any grace-period provisions. Watch dshs.texas.gov/retail-food-establishments for guidance as July 1 approaches.