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Arizona food trucks expected to benefit from new law

AZ food trucks expected to benefit from new law
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It's a booming business sector in Arizona and the governor is cooking up new rules to help food trucks. 

He just signed a new bill loosening restrictions and giving them a uniformed system to operate under. 

Under the old rules, everyone needed a county license and then each city was allowed to require their own license which could cost upwards of $100 each.  

The new law now creates one state license. Food trucks can also have the same hours as a restaurant. Cities can't require truck owners to have separate insurance or block them from parking in public areas.

Until now, some cities, like Scottsdale, didn't even give permits for food trucks -- that will change.  

"Our hands were tied with this city and we do this with this and couldn't do this. Now with this law, it'll give us an even playing field, but there's still a ways to go," said Mike Milligan, owner of Meatball's Meatballs. 

He used to own a traditional restaurant and says owning a food truck is harder because he has to do everything from management to cooking, plus truck maintenance. 

Milligan says he's not trying to put any restaurants out of business by being able to travel more freely but without this law, it's hard to even compete.

"I don't think any food trucker wants to put anybody out of business or even try to steal their customers from them, it just lays that even playing field that we can even go into a community," Milligan said. 

He adds that he would still like to see uniformity in the cost of various fees between cities, food handlers card requirements and background checks.

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