In many cities across the state of California, there are restrictions and laws against street side vendors. Many cities, such as Los Angeles, make it a criminal act to sell food without a license, which means any street vendor caught doing so could face jail time. Some people feel that this is too harsh of a punishment, which is why Senator Ricardo Lara has a new proposal aimed at changing that.

Senator Lara’s proposed law would make it so that cities all across the state could not regulate or ban street vendors unless the city has a licensing system in place that meets several requirements that would be set by the state. This new state law would overwrite any city laws and ordinances that do not mesh with it.

Cities would also not be permitted to prevent vendors from selling in parks...