Kern County, CA Business Licensing & Operations: Secondhand Dealers (2026)

Kern County Code Chapter 5.04 folds secondhand dealer licensing into its general business-license scheme rather than giving it a standalone chapter. Section 5.04.030(C) requires that application forms for a secondhand dealer's license be in the form provided by the Department of Justice, and Section 5.04.040(A)(8) makes every applicant disclose whether the goods they deal in are new, used, secondhand, or scrap or salvaged. Once filed, the sheriff investigates the applicant, any managing employee and anyone holding more than a 20% stake in the business under Section 5.04.060(A), applying the disqualification standards in Business and Professions Code Sections 480, 493 and 475(c) and, specifically for secondhand dealers, the dictates of Business and Professions Code Section 21641.

Fingerprinting and photographing of the applicant and managing employee are authorized under Section 5.04.050. Section 5.04.140(C) then imposes the 30-day DOJ hold before any secondhand dealer license can issue, and bars the sheriff from making approval conditional except as allowed in that section. A denied or conditioned applicant may appeal to the board of supervisors within 20 days of the sheriff's notice under Section 5.04.120, triggering a public hearing within 30 days. Once issued, a license may be revoked or suspended by the board under Section 5.04.240 for detrimental conduct, nuisance, or violation of law, and a revoked license bars reapplication for one year under Section 5.04.250.