Joseph Pileri, a Practitioner in Residence in the Community and Economic Development Law Clinic at American University Washington College of Law, discusses the significance of the recent law in California that legalizes street vending across the state. The law prohibits local authorities from outright banning of street vending or treating any violation of street vending regulations as a criminal offense. It also requires the dismissal of any pending criminal prosecution brought under any local ordinance regulating or prohibiting sidewalk vendors. Pileri views the law as a major step in reversing the trend of “criminalizing microenterprise, by which cities raise barriers to entry for vulnerable entrepreneurs, unduly burden those entrepreneurs most at risk, and detract from the vibrancy of communities.”

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