Hemet, CA Noise Ordinances: Leaf Blower Rules (2026)

The City of Hemet does not appear to have a separate leaf-blower ordinance setting specific use hours, decibel caps, or a gas-blower ban, unlike cities such as Palo Alto or Oakland. In Hemet, leaf-blower noise is instead governed by the general noise provision, Municipal Code Sec. 53-4, which prohibits loud, unnecessary, and unusual noise that unreasonably disturbs the peace, judged by the hour and circumstances. As a practical matter, early-morning or late-evening blower use in a residential neighborhood is the kind of noise that can trigger that reasonableness standard. The state-level backstop is California's Assembly Bill 1346: the California Air Resources Board adopted regulations requiring most newly manufactured small off-road engines (SORE) - the spark-ignition engines used in leaf blowers, lawn mowers, and similar equipment - to be zero-emission starting with model year 2024. This restricts the sale of new gas-powered units statewide but, per CARB, does not ban continued use of existing CARB-compliant gas equipment. So in Hemet a resident is not barred from running a gas blower they already own, but new gas units are being phased out at the point of sale by state law, and the noise itself remains subject to the City's general nuisance rule.