Huntington Beach, CA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

120 makes it unlawful to ask, beg, or solicit alms in an aggressive manner in any Public Place or Public Way, or other place open to the public whether publicly or privately owned, expressly naming sidewalks, streets, alleys, driveways, parking lots, parks, plazas, buildings, doorways, entrances, and gas stations. 010 defines 'aggressive' solicitation to include touching another person without consent while asking for money, continuing to ask after a negative response, intentionally blocking or interfering with a person's safe passage, following a person after a refusal, making a statement or gesture a reasonable person would perceive as a threat of bodily harm, and washing, guarding, or otherwise servicing a parked or moving vehicle without the owner's consent and then demanding payment.

The definition also separately reaches anyone who blocks a person from entering or leaving a vehicle, or interferes with a vehicle's operation, while soliciting or after being refused. 120 carries no prior-warning requirement: the aggressive solicitation itself is the violation. 140 preserves constitutionally protected speech, so the ordinance targets the coercive manner of the solicitation, such as touching, blocking, or threatening, rather than the act of asking for money itself.