Victory! Texas Enacts Home-Based Business Fairness Act

Last week, Governor Greg Abbott signed the Home-Based Business Fairness Act (House Bill 2464), which pushes back against unnecessary government regulations over small businesses and delivers a long-overdue victory for Texans who simply want the freedom to work from their own homes. 

Championed by Representative Cole Hefner and Senator Mayes Middleton, this Goldwater Institute model reform protects the right of entrepreneurs to earn an honest living from their homes without needing permission from city hall to do something as basic as tutor a student, bake cupcakes, or sell handmade crafts online. 

Restoring Common Sense to Local Government 

Over the past few decades, technological advances have afforded entrepreneurs new opportunities to start businesses from their own homes, allowing them to save money, maintain flexible schedules, and realize dreams of self-employment. The vast majority of small businesses start out of someone’s home, and many continue to operate that way for years.  

All too often, cities across the country treat home-based businesses like industrial polluters, subjecting them to complex permitting requirements, zoning red tape, and in some cases, criminal penalties, just for engaging in peaceful, productive work inside their own homes. 

HB 2464 reasserts the fundamental principle that government exists to protect our rights, not trample them. Under this new law, Texans can operate businesses from home without first seeking a government permission slip as long as their activities are secondary to residential use and don’t disturb the peace of their neighborhoods. At the same time, cities can still address legitimate nuisances, like noise or traffic, without imposing blanket bans on lawful enterprises. 

Protecting the American Dream 

If a mother can teach her daughter to play the violin in her living room, it makes no sense for the government to penalize her for teaching someone else’s daughter in the same living room for money. If it’s legal to do your income taxes at your kitchen table, there’s no reason an accountant should be barred from doing someone else’s taxes in her home office. As long as the home-based business is not disrupting traffic or causing loud noises, there’s no reason entrepreneurs shouldn’t be free to sell things on the internet or operate other small businesses to help pay the bills.   

These entrepreneurs are not threats to public safety. They’re hard-working Americans being punished for pursuing opportunity. Thanks to HB 2464, Texans are now free to pursue the American Dream, and local governments can no longer treat entrepreneurs operating out of their homes like criminals. 

The Goldwater Institute applauds Rep. Hefner, Senator Middleton and Governor Abbott for protecting the right to earn a living and championing this game-changing legislation. HB 2464 builds on model legislation developed by the Goldwater Institute and is now part of a growing movement nationwide to rein in government overreach and restore the freedom to work.