In 2018, the California state legislature legalized street vendors and prohibited local governments from regulating them based on competition with brick-and-mortar businesses.
Posted by The Dan Bongino Show, Checked
- Sources
- 5 support1 context
- Said
- 1 time·
- Confidence
- 85%
The Dan Bongino ShowOct 16, 2026
SB 946, signed September 17, 2018, decriminalized and legalized sidewalk vending statewide and limited local regulation to the bill's terms. Sources quote the statute as saying economic competition is not an objective health, safety, or welfare concern, so local governments cannot restrict vendors on competition grounds.
What was said
… You know, food vendors pouring grease into the public drainage system, rats, all this going on. An absolute explosion of that in California. Why? Because, in 2018, the state legislature legalized street vendors and took away the ability for any local government to do anything about it, including on the grounds of competition with brick and mortar businesses. And so you've got businesses going out of business. And if you put those two things together, it really tells you, in a deep way, what's gone wrong in California, which is basically, we've become a state where the people who do the right thing are punished …
The Dan Bongino Show · · from the transcriptPost →What we found
Supports. SB 946 (Chapter 459) was approved by the Governor and filed on September 17, 2018, and bars local authorities from regulating sidewalk vendors except as the bill allows.[1]
Supports. The 2018 law states that 'economic competition does not constitute an objective health, safety, or welfare concern,' and sources describe it as making perceived competition no basis for restricting vendors.[2][3]
Supports. The 2018 Safe Sidewalk Vending Act decriminalized street vending statewide and required local governments to give a clear, legitimate reason for any restriction.[4][5]
Context. Local governments can still restrict vendor location and time for health and safety reasons, so the post's claim that localities could do nothing is overstated; the narrower claim about competition is what the sources support.[3][4]
Context. Some later coverage shows continuing local disputes, such as Los Angeles no-vending zones, but these concern implementation rather than contradicting the 2018 statutory limit on competition-based regulation.[2][6]
Sources
6 sources: 1 primary, 5 not rated
- 1Senate Bill (SB) 946 - California Legislative Informationleginfo.legislature.ca.gov · primary source · cited for: supports
- 2City Councilmember Seeks to Loosen Street Vendor Ban ...la.eater.com · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 3Escondido Could be Next to Regulate Sidewalk Vendingvoiceofsandiego.org · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 4How Street Vendors Finally Made Street Food Legal in Californianextcity.org · not rated · cited for: supports, context
- 5Regulations Considered Regarding Sidewalk Vendorscrescentavalleyweekly.com · not rated · cited for: supports
- 6Community Groups Sue City of LA for Unlawful and Discriminatory ...publiccounsel.org · not rated · cited for: context
Where this claim was made
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