Food vendors and facilities: enforcement activities.

Senator Durazo's Street Vendor Business Protection Act proposes comprehensive changes to California's regulation of sidewalk vendors and compact mobile food operations, focusing on data privacy and enforcement procedures. The legislation modifies how local authorities collect and manage vendor information while restructuring penalties for regulatory violations.

The bill prohibits local authorities from sharing vendors' personal information with immigration enforcement agents without a judicial warrant or subpoena. It also bars authorities from collecting data about immigration status, citizenship, place of birth, or criminal history during permit applications. Local agencies must destroy any previously collected sensitive information by March 1, 2026. The legislation defines protected information to include names, addresses, identification numbers, and business details.

Under the new framework, violations of vending regulations result in administrative fines rather than criminal penalties. First violations incur fines up to $100, with subsequent infractions within one year reaching $200 and $500 respectively. Local authorities must consider vendors' ability to pay when assessing fines and accept alternative identification documents for permits, including California driver's licenses, individual taxpayer numbers, or municipal IDs in place of Social Security numbers.

The measure prevents local authorities from delegating enforcement duties to private entities, including impounding equipment or issuing citations. It maintains existing health and safety oversight while requiring that enforcement remains a public function. Local agencies retain the ability to regulate vending locations and operations based on objective public welfare concerns, though they cannot restrict vendors based on community opposition or economic competition.