San Clemente, CA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

095, adopted by Ordinance No. 1643 in 2017, defines 'solicit' as using spoken, written, or printed words, gestures, or signs to seek an immediate donation or the sale of goods or services in a 'public place,' defined broadly to include streets, parking lots, transportation facilities, schools, and parks. The section prohibits three specific behaviors as aggressive solicitation: approaching, speaking to, or following a person in a way intended or likely to make a reasonable person fear bodily harm, property damage, or feel intimidated into giving money; intentionally touching or making physical contact with a person or an occupied vehicle without consent; and intentionally blocking or interfering with a pedestrian's or vehicle's safe passage, including forcing evasive action to avoid contact.

Separately, the section bans all solicitation, aggressive or not, inside any public transportation vehicle carrying ten or more passengers or a for-hire passenger vehicle. The ordinance expressly protects lawful vending of goods and services, so a permitted sidewalk vendor or a nonprofit collecting donations without the listed aggressive conduct is not covered. 090, which target loud or boisterous solicitation in commercially zoned areas, giving San Clemente two overlapping tools against street-level solicitation depending on whether the conduct is merely loud or genuinely threatening.