Kern County, CA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)
Key Facts
- Canvassing hours
- 9 a.m. to sunset+30 min, uninvited
- Phone solicitation hours
- 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., uninvited
- Highway/train/vehicle soliciting
- Requires carrier's written permission
- Violation classification
- Infraction under Section 5.76.040
Summary
Kern County's Chapter 5.76 bars soliciting business on a public highway, street, railroad, train or vehicle without written permission from the carrier's owner or manager, bans uninvited door-to-door canvassing between a half hour after sunset and 9 a.m., and bars uninvited telephone sales calls between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m.
No person, persons, firm or corporation shall solicit customers, patronage or business for or on behalf of himself or any other person, firm, corporation, hotel, lodging house, apartment house, cafe, restaurant, boarding house or other business upon any public highway, road, street, railroad, train or vehicle or from any of the persons occupying or using such trains or vehicles, without having first secured permission in writing to do so from the owner, lessee or managing agent of such railroad or vehicle.
Official source re-checked September 7, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: Code of Ordinances: Supplement 59 Update 1).
Full Breakdown
010 requires written permission from the owner, lessee or managing agent before anyone solicits customers or business upon any public highway, road, street, railroad, train or vehicle, a rule aimed at hawkers working depots, bus stops and passenger vehicles on behalf of a hotel, lodging house, cafe, restaurant, boarding house or similar business. 020 separately governs door-to-door sales, barring a door-to-door salesman or canvasser from soliciting business at residences, without prior invitation, between a time one-half hour after sunset until nine o'clock the following morning.
030 extends the same protection to telemarketing, barring anyone from disturbing a resident by a telephone call to solicit business, without prior invitation, between eight o'clock at night and nine o'clock the following morning. None of the three sections requires a permit fee or application process from the county for ordinary door-to-door or telephone solicitation; the operative restriction is timing and, for highway/train/vehicle solicitation, written carrier consent. 040 makes any violation of the chapter an infraction, the lightest criminal classification under California law, rather than a misdemeanor.
Violations & Fines
Soliciting on a highway, train or vehicle without the carrier's written permission, canvassing a residence before 9 a.m. or after roughly a half hour past sunset without an invitation, or making an uninvited sales call between 8 p.m. and 9 a.m. is an infraction under Section 5.76.040, the same low-level classification as a minor traffic ticket rather than a misdemeanor.
Frequently Asked Questions
What time can door-to-door salespeople knock in Kern County?
Can telemarketers call my house at night in unincorporated Kern County?
Do I need the county's permission to sell things on a train platform?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Kern County
California rules heatmap·Compare Kern County to another location·View the California soliciting & door-to-door overview
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