SB 946: Sidewalk vendors.

Existing law authorizes a local authority, by ordinance or resolution, to adopt requirements for the public safety regulating any type of vending and the time, place, and manner of vending from a vehicle upon a street.

This bill would prohibit a local authority, as defined, from regulating sidewalk vendors, except in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill would provide that a local authority is not required to adopt a new program to regulate sidewalk vendors if the local authority has established an existing program that substantially complies with the provisions of the bill. The bill would apply these provisions to a chartered or general law city, county, or city and county.

The bill would require a local authority that elects to adopt a sidewalk vending program to, among other things, not require a sidewalk vendor to operate within specific parts of the public right-of-way, except when that restriction is directly related to objective health, safety, or welfare concerns, and not restrict sidewalk vendors to operate only in a designated neighborhood or area, except as specified. The bill would authorize a local authority to, by ordinance or resolution, adopt additional requirements regulating the time, place, and manner of sidewalk vending, as specified, if the requirements are directly related to objective health, safety, or welfare concerns. The bill would also authorize a local authority to prohibit sidewalk vendors in areas located within the immediate vicinity of a permitted certified farmers market and a permitted swap meet, as specified, and to restrict or prohibit sidewalk vendors within the immediate vicinity of an area designated for a temporary special permit issued by the local authority, as specified. A violation would be punishable only by an administrative fine, as specified, pursuant to an ability-to-pay determination, and proceeds would be deposited in the treasury of the local authority.

The bill would require the dismissal of any criminal prosecutions under any local ordinance or resolution regulating or prohibiting sidewalk vendors that have not reached final judgment. The bill would also authorize a person who is currently serving, or who completed, a sentence, or who is subject to a fine, for a conviction of a misdemeanor or infraction for sidewalk vending, as specified, to petition for dismissal of the sentence, fine, or conviction.

Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.

This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.