Santa Ana, CA Soliciting & Door-to-Door: Solicitor Permits (2026)

Municipal Code § 21-107(a) covers any person, resident or not, traveling from place to place or street to street who sells, delivers, or takes orders for goods, wares, or merchandise, or who canvasses opinions, preferences, or endorsements within the city, unless that person already has a regularly established place of business in Santa Ana for at least 90 days with a state seller's permit tied to that address (§ 21-107(b)). Peddlers and solicitors each pay a license fee set in the rate schedule at § 21-120p and § 21-120s, either as an annual or daily rate, with a reduced fee if the employing firm already holds a principal's license under § 21-108.

Companies that field crews of door-to-door canvassers must instead obtain a principal's peddler's or solicitor's license under § 21-108, which requires filing a list of every peddler or solicitor employed or contracted, plus a signed agreement to notify the collector in writing within five days of any personnel change. No license issues under § 21-109 until the applicant furnishes a California State Board of Equalization (now CDTFA) permit number and agrees to separately report city sales in the state sales tax return. Operating without the required license triggers § 21-25's delinquency penalty of 50 percent of the unpaid license tax, and a person who ignores written notice to obtain a license after mailed notice is deemed guilty of a misdemeanor under § 21-25(j).

Where the violation is classed as a criminal infraction rather than a misdemeanor, § 21-26 sets fines at $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second violation of the same provision within a year, and $250 for each further violation within that year, with every additional day of continued violation counted as a separate offense.