Apple Valley, CA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)
Key Facts
- Section
- § 11.20.085
- Adopted
- Ordinance 302, Oct. 25, 2005
- Penalty
- Up to $1,000 fine and/or 6 months
- Covers
- Streets, sidewalks, places open to public
- Prohibited acts
- Block, touch, follow, threaten, abuse
Summary
Apple Valley Municipal Code § 11.20.085 makes it unlawful to solicit by harassing or menacing another person on a public street, sidewalk or other place open to the public. A conviction is a misdemeanor carrying up to a $1,000 fine, up to six months in jail, or both.
No person shall solicit by harassing or menacing another person on a public street or sidewalk or in another place open to the public, whether publicly or privately owned. ... Solicit by harassing or menacing means to do any of the following while soliciting: (a) Intentionally block or impede the passage of the solicitee; (b) Touch the solicitee with the intent to intimidate or coerce; (c) Follow the solicitee...with the intent to intimidate or coerce; (d) Threaten the solicitee, by word or gesture, with physical harm; or (e) Abuse the solicitee with words which are offensive and inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction. ... Any person violating the provisions of this Section shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction shall be fined an amount not to exceed $1,000.00 or be imprisoned for a period not to exceed six months or both.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 19 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
085 does not ban asking for money outright: subsection (A) defines "solicit" simply as asking another person, by word or gesture, for money or some other thing of value, which the ordinance leaves untouched. What it criminalizes is soliciting "by harassing or menacing," a term the section defines through five specific acts: intentionally blocking or impeding the person being solicited, touching them with intent to intimidate or coerce, following them with that same intent, threatening them by word or gesture with physical harm, or abusing them with words that are offensive and inherently likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction.
The prohibition reaches any public street or sidewalk and any other place open to the public, whether publicly or privately owned, and the chapter's public-place definition sweeps in streets, sidewalks, bridges, alleys, plazas, parks, driveways, parking lots, shopping centers, undeveloped private property and buildings open to the general public. 045, on October 25, 2005 under Ordinance 302. 20.
Violations & Fines
Section 11.20.085(B) makes aggressive solicitation a misdemeanor in its own right: upon conviction, a violator faces a fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment for not more than six months, or both. Because the penalty is written directly into the solicitation section rather than left to the Town's default Code penalty, officers can cite and prosecute the offense without reaching for § 1.01.230.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is panhandling itself illegal in Apple Valley?
What counts as harassing solicitation?
What is the penalty for aggressive solicitation?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Apple Valley
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