A Golden Opportunity for the Golden State

California’s sidewalk vendors face a patchwork of arbitrary and anticompetitive rules that make it difficult—or even impossible—to ply their chosen trade and share in the prosperity of the United States’ largest economy. Now the California Legislature is considering a bill, SB 946, that would protect the rights of these entrepreneurs by providing a framework within which cities can promulgate sidewalk vending regulations that create a pathway to entrepreneurship, instead of erecting arbitrary and anticompetitive barriers that bear no relationship to public health and safety. This survey of the vending codes of 20 randomly selected cities finds that all fall short of the substantive protections offered to vendors by SB 946. At the same time, most already have rules in place to protect the public, meaning that cities can slash unnecessary red tape without sacrificing health and safety.