By Emily Reyes
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-vending-legalize-20181128-story.html

After President Trump was elected, the council quickly moved to decriminalize vending, fearing that criminal charges could put some vendors at risk of deportation as the federal government cracked down on immigrants living in the country illegally. But sidewalk sellers still could be ticketed and fined for violating the municipal code.

L.A. leaders were still working out how to allow vending when a state law forced their hand. Under Senate Bill 946, local governments had to make sure that their rules lined up with new restrictions on how they could regulate vending — or lose their ability to enforce those rules beginning in January.

That law prohibited cities from limiting where or how vendors could do business or capping the number of vendors allowed unless such restrictions were tied to “objective health, safety, or welfare concerns.” It also barred cities from requiring sidewalk vendors to get approval from a neighboring business, an idea that L.A. had debated in the past.