Monterey Park, CA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: No-Knock Registry (2026)

Chapter 9.42 regulates handbill distribution. Section 9.42.010 separately bars placing, throwing, scattering, or depositing any handbill, dodger, circular, booklet, or advertisement on public streets, sidewalks, alleys, or other public property, though it does not apply to material handed directly to someone willing to accept it. Section 9.42.020 addresses private property and makes distribution unlawful under any of four conditions: the property owner or occupant asks the distributor not to deliver; the property is conspicuously posted with a "No Trespassing," "No Soliciting," or similar sign; the owner has filed a request with the city clerk not to have material delivered; or the property is temporarily or continuously vacant and the distributor knew or should have known that.

Even where distribution is not otherwise prohibited, the section requires material to be placed or deposited so it will not blow around the premises or onto public property. Section 9.42.030 exempts distribution made through the United States mail entirely. The chapter's registry mechanism, filing a no-delivery request with the city clerk, functions as the city's version of a do-not-deliver list, giving residents a city-recorded alternative to posting a sign. The chapter does not set out its own penalty section, so a violation defaults to the code's general misdemeanor provision unless a citation is issued as an infraction under the city's administrative citation process.