Vista, CA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

010 targets coercive solicitation specifically, not begging in general: it is unlawful for any person on the streets, sidewalks, or other places open to the public, whether publicly or privately owned, including parks, to harass or impede any person for the purpose of inducing that person through coercion, threat, or intimidation to give money or other thing of value. 020 defines each operative term precisely so the statute reaches only genuinely aggressive conduct: "harass" means to irritate or torment persistently, "impede" means to obstruct or pursue relentlessly and tenaciously, "coercion" means to enforce or bring about by force or threat, "threat" means an expression of intention to inflict evil, injury, or damage, and "intimidation" means to compel or deter by or as if by threats.

10 of the Vista City Code, the code's general penalty chapter. The ordinance was enacted by Ordinance No. 94-4 on February 22, 1994, and has not been amended since, meaning the 1994 definitions still govern any enforcement action today. Because the statute is written around coercive conduct rather than the act of asking for money itself, passive solicitation without harassment, obstruction, threat, or intimidation falls outside the chapter's reach.