Vacaville, CA Curfew Laws: Juvenile Curfew (2026)

Vacaville Municipal Code Chapter 9.34 (Curfew) follows the standard California-municipal juvenile curfew template: it makes it unlawful for any minor (a person under 18 years of age) to loiter, idle, wander, stroll, or play in or upon any public place, public street, highway, road, lane, park, playground, public building, place of amusement or entertainment, vacant lot, or other public ground during defined nighttime curfew hours; the corresponding daytime daytime-curfew provision (sometimes referred to as a 'truancy ordinance') addresses school-hour presence in public places. The chapter incorporates the defenses the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the California Court of Appeal have required for constitutional validity (see Nunez v. City of San Diego, 114 F.3d 935 (9th Cir. 1997)): the minor is accompanied by a parent or legal guardian or another adult authorized by the parent or guardian; the minor is on an errand directed by the parent or guardian; the minor is in a motor vehicle involved in interstate or intrastate travel; the minor is engaged in lawful employment or returning home directly from lawful employment; the minor is engaged in an emergency; the minor is on the sidewalk abutting the minor's residence or the residence of a neighbor who has not complained; the minor is attending or returning directly home from an official school, religious, or other recreational activity supervised by adults and sponsored by a city, civic, religious, or other entity that takes responsibility for the minor; the minor is exercising First Amendment rights; the minor is married or has been married, or is otherwise emancipated. Parental liability provisions make it unlawful for a parent or legal guardian to knowingly permit or by inefficient control to allow the minor to violate the curfew. Enforcement is by the Vacaville Police Department through citation; minors cited for curfew violations are typically referred to diversion programs, the Solano County Probation Department, or the Solano County Juvenile Court depending on prior contacts. The Vacaville Unified School District operates the daytime truancy-prevention framework in coordination with the curfew enforcement.