Costa Mesa, CA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Enacted by Ordinance No. 95-4 in March 1995 as Chapter XI of Title 11, Costa Mesa's panhandling ordinance does not ban begging itself but targets six specific aggressive behaviors defined in section 11-177: approaching, speaking to, gesturing at or following someone in a manner that would make a reasonable person fear bodily harm or a crime against them or their property; touching another person without consent while asking for money; blocking or interfering with someone's safe passage, including forcing evasive action or preventing them from leaving; performing an unsolicited service on a vehicle, such as washing or guarding it, then demanding payment; and blocking a person's ability to enter or exit a vehicle, or blocking the vehicle itself, during or after a solicitation.

Section 11-178 then bans soliciting alms in an aggressive manner in any place open to the public, publicly or privately owned, expressly naming sidewalks, streets, alleys, driveways, parking lots, parks, plazas, building entrances, gas stations and fast-food drive-through lanes. Section 11-179 preserves constitutionally protected picketing and protesting and does not itself create new prohibitions or permissions beyond existing law. Section 11-181 explains the ordinance's legal basis: the conduct it targets is also barred by Penal Code section 647(c), but because that state provision has been held invalid and unenforceable in some courts, the city ordinance stays in force as a backstop until section 647(c) is valid and enforceable statewide.