Agenda - Council - 05/11/1999 - Laserfiche WebLink

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I I I I I I I I I I I I i I I I Did You Know? 4/95 Regulating Peddlers, Solicitors, and Transient Merchants Cities have both statutory and common law authority to regulate peddlers, solicitors, and transient merchants. Minnesota Statutes, sections 329.06 and 329.15, grant to cities the right W regulate and license peddlers, solicitors, and transient merchants above and beyond the statutory requirement for them to obtain county licenses. M.$. 412.221, subd. 19, echoes the provisions of chapter 329 for statutory cities. Most charters provide home role charter cities with the ~rne type of explicit authority. M.S. 437.02 restates the authority to reguhte and license transient merchants in all cities. In addition, the courts have held that reasonable regulations of peddlers, solicitors, and transient merchants are valid exercises of a city's police powers in protecting the health, safety, and welfare of the public against an activity that can become a nuisance. Unfortunately, while it is clear that cities can not totally ban peddlers, solicitors and transient merchants, it is not clear how far cities can go in exercising their regulatory authority over them. Because this is a highly litigated matter, and because cities risk being held liable for federal Section 1988 penalties if they adopt and.try to enforce an unconstitutional regulation, cities are strongly urged to involve their city ~tttorneys before adopting any regulation. Further, before a city decides it has to do something about the problem of peddlers, solieiWrs and transient merchants, it should balance extent of its current problem or. the problem that could develop if ~ch activities are left um-eg~l~?_od, against the risk of litigation over any attempted enforcement of a regulation. For those Cities that decide they have to do something about this problem, the following suggestions should be carefully considered and applied to develop the types of provisions that have either been upheld in court or that should be defendable if challenged: -- Define all terms. Peddlers, solicitors, and transient merchants are not recognized by the courts as being the same. Peddlers, also known as hawkers, go from place to phce to sell goods that are delivered i~t the time Qf sale. Solicitors, also known as canvassers, go from phee to phce to obtain orders for goods or services that are to be delivered or performed at a hter time, or to eollec, t donations. Transient merchants are generally persons who sell their merchandise from a vehicle or other portable shelter, or from an empty storefront, and who do not intend to remain in business at any one location for more than a temporary period .of time, usually know more than a few weeks. --" Exempt specific groups .from the definitions. The courts have held that those who make initial contacts with property owners or occupants for the purpose of establistiing a regular delivery route, as well as people making deliveries to customers on their regular route, are not the type of nuisances intended to be defined and regulated by peddler, solicitor, and transient merchant regulations. Likewise,. sellers at whole sale making direct sales to retailers of the items being sold, have also been exempted from the definitions of peddlers, solicitors, and transient merchants.