Salinas, CA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

The council enacted Chapter 24A after finding that aggressive solicitation, "approaching and following pedestrians, the use of abusive language, unwanted physical contact, intimidation or the intentional blocking of pedestrian and vehicular traffic," had grown "extremely disturbing and disruptive to residents and businesses" and singled out solicitation near banks and ATMs as "especially threatening and dangerous," per the findings in Sec. 24A-1.

Sec. 24A-3 bars all solicitation after sunset and before sunrise, citywide. Sec. 24A-4 adds place-based bans: no soliciting at bus stops, inside transit vehicles, in or around a stopped vehicle, on private property without the owner's permission, within twenty-five feet of any bank, savings and loan, or other financial institution (including outdoor ATMs) or in its parking lot, within ten feet of most building entrances, or in outdoor dining areas with seated patrons. A business may also post an eight-by-eleven-inch sign reading "No Soliciting, Begging or Panhandling pursuant to SCC 24A" at its entrances to bar solicitation entirely, under Sec. 24A-4(i).

Sec. 24A-5 defines the prohibited manner: blocking a person's path, using profane or abusive language, soliciting while intoxicated or under the influence of narcotics, "accosting" someone by approaching in a way likely to threaten or intimidate, persisting after a refusal, touching a person or occupied vehicle without consent, or approaching a driver or passenger entering, exiting, or stopped in traffic. Sec. 24A-6 makes any violation a misdemeanor, with each act of solicitation prosecuted as a separate offense.