Cathedral City, CA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 11.08.020 is the Cathedral City Council's time, place and manner limit on soliciting in public places. Its stated purpose is to protect the safety of the general public against aggressive solicitation while respecting the constitutional right of free speech. Solicitation means any request made in person seeking an immediate donation of money or other item of value. A person who passively displays a sign, without addressing a request to a specific person, is not soliciting, other than in response to an inquiry by that person.

Subsection C bans aggressive soliciting. It covers coming closer than three feet to the person solicited unless that person indicates a wish to donate, blocking or impeding passage, following after a refusal, threatening physical harm, abusing with words likely to provoke an immediate violent reaction, touching without consent, and soliciting in the places listed in subsection D. Subsection D bars soliciting within thirty feet of an entrance or exit of a bank, savings and loan association, credit union or check cashing business during its business hours, and within thirty feet of an automated teller machine while it is available for use. It also bars approaching the operator or occupant of a motor vehicle on a public street or in a public place, soliciting in a public parking lot or structure after dark (from one-half hour after sunset to one-half hour before sunrise), soliciting in a public transportation vehicle or within ten feet of a posted stop, soliciting in outdoor dining areas, and soliciting persons waiting in line.

Retail and service businesses add a posted-sign rule. Where commercial property without communal areas displays a "NO SOLICITORS" sign, soliciting is prohibited within thirty feet of any principal entrance or exit. Solicitation near retail or service businesses in accordance with the section takes place only between eight a.m. and one-half hour after sunset, with no sound amplification, with signs no larger than three feet wide and four feet long, and with one solicitor per business on a first-come, first-served basis. The printed history of the section ends with Ordinance 892, dated October 22, 2025.