Mountain View, CA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

28 targets solicitation directed at people getting into or out of a vehicle. It defines "solicit" broadly to include any request, offer, enticement or action announcing the availability of employment, the sale of goods, or a request for money, food or another item of value, or any action seeking to purchase goods, secure employment or obtain a contribution; the solicitation is complete once made, whether or not any transaction, exchange of money or job actually results. , bars soliciting or attempting to solicit a person entering or exiting any vehicle so as to impede that person's movement, when the vehicle sits within a public street, a private driveway leading to a public street, or a public or private parking lot or structure.

That location list captures the settings where aggressive panhandling toward motorists typically occurs, including gas station and shopping center lots and driveway aprons feeding onto public streets. The section was substantially rewritten by Ord. No. 97 in 1997, refined by Ord. No. 00 in 2000 and Ord. No. 02 in 2002, and most recently amended by Ord. No. 17, Sec. 3 were repealed in 2002 and folded into the current single-section structure. is charged as an infraction rather than a misdemeanor, putting it in the same low-level enforcement category as most other Chapter 21 offenses.