You probably recall that I’m tracking Ricardo Lara’s street vending regulation bill, SB-946. In short, the bill would prohibit local jurisdictions in California from regulating street vending except in a very minimal, sane way. Obviously this bill faces tons of exceedingly high-powered opposition from Los Angeles zillionaires.
For reasons known only to themselves and their 90210-based therapists, these powerful political players hate sidewalk vendors to the point where it seems acceptable to arrest them, chain them, confiscate and waste their wares and equipment, and so on. They compare them to drug dealers and prostitutes and are seemingly unable to comprehend the economic value brought to our City by these entrepreneurs, let alone the social value.
And it’s often the case that what makes the zillionaires unhappy makes the state legislature unhappy. These people have essentially endless political juice. We saw a heartbreaking example of this last year with the saintly Rob Bonta‘s AB-1479. This bill proposed much-needed improvements to the California Public Records Act and was curbstomped and gutted by our local zillionaires and their satanic minions with the assistance of slimy little BIDdie-boy Miguel Santiago, who will be running for Jose Huizar’s seat in 2020 and thus has every incentive to please the Downtown power elite at the expense of the human population of California.
So watching Lara’s essential bill make its way through the legislature since it was introduced at the end of January has been an anxiety-inducing process. It passed the Senate intact in early May and made its way to the Assembly. It’s been hovering around the edges of the Local Government Committee without any action until yesterday, when it was amended by Lara and put on the committee’s schedule for Wednesday, June 20.
And thankfully the amendments were exceedingly minimal. You can compare the new language here, and there’s a transcription after the break. All that happened, though, is that the current version will allow cities to prohibit vending near certified farmers’ markets, near permitted swap meets, in parks for a few new reasons, and on sidewalks with a valid temporary use permit. The most important facets of the bill are still blessedly intact, including the amnesty provisions. Fingers crossed for the 20th, friends! You can find your reps here and write to them about it.
SB 946, as amended, Lara. Sidewalk vendors.
Existing law authorizes a local authority, by ordinance or resolution, to adopt requirements for the public safety regulating any type of vending and the time, place, and manner of vending from a vehicle upon a street.
This bill would prohibit a local authority, as defined, from regulating sidewalk vendors, except in accordance with the provisions of the bill. The bill would provide that a local authority is not required to adopt a new program to regulate sidewalk vendors if the local authority has established an existing program that substantially complies with the provisions of the bill. The bill would apply these provisions to a chartered or general law city, county, or city and county.
The bill would require a local authority that elects to adopt a sidewalk vending program to, among other things, not require a sidewalk vendor to operate within specific parts of the public right-of-way, except where when that restriction is directly related to objective health, safety, or welfare concerns, and not restrict sidewalk vendors to operate only in a designated neighborhood or area, except as specified. The bill would authorize a local authority to, by ordinance or resolution, adopt additional requirements regulating the time and manner of sidewalk vending, as specified. The bill would prohibit a person from operating as a sidewalk vendor in violation of, or a sidewalk vendor from violating, a local authority’s sidewalk vending program, as specified. specified, if the requirements are directly related to objective health, safety, or welfare concerns. The bill would also authorize a local authority to prohibit sidewalk vendors in areas located within the immediate vicinity of a permitted certified farmers’ market and a permitted swap meet, as specified, and to restrict or prohibit sidewalk vendors within the immediate vicinity of any part of the sidewalk that is subject to a separate temporary sidewalk use permit issued by the local authority, as specified. A violation would be punishable only by an administrative fine, as specified, pursuant to an ability-to-pay determination, and proceeds would be deposited in the treasury of the local authority.
The bill would require the dismissal of any criminal prosecutions under any local ordinance or resolution regulating or prohibiting sidewalk vendors that have not reached final judgment. The bill would also authorize a person who is currently serving, or who completed, a sentence, or who is subject to a fine, for a conviction of a misdemeanor or infraction for sidewalk vending, as specified, to petition for dismissal of the sentence, fine, or conviction.
Existing constitutional provisions require that a statute that limits the right of access to the meetings of public bodies or the writings of public officials and agencies be adopted with findings demonstrating the interest protected by the limitation and the need for protecting that interest.
This bill would make legislative findings to that effect.
Image of Ricardo Lara is ©2018 MichaelKohlhaas.Org and is transmogrified offa this lil friend here.
