Santa Maria, California: door-to-door solicitor permit

• The answer: Yes — a city business license as a solicitor or canvasser, taxed per rep, with a Police Department fingerprint check before it issues (4-3.3124). There is no separate solicitor permit: the Peddlers and Solicitors chapter (4-14) is four sections about posted signs. Reps working for a business that has a fixed, licensed place of business in the city skip the fingerprint check if the business files a certified list of their names and addresses with the Director of Finance (4-3.3124(c)(2)).
• Where it comes from: The Finance Division, 206 E. Cook St., (805) 925-0951 extension 2422, takes the application and payment from a business located outside the city. The Police Department Records Bureau, (805) 928-3781 extension 2590, runs the background investigation, per the city's Business License page.
• Fee: The code writes it in words, for each solicitor or canvasser: twenty dollars per day, eighty dollars per month, one hundred sixty dollars per quarter, or five hundred dollars per year (4-3.3124(a)). The city's Business License page also names a business license application fee and the state's $4 CASp fee; it does not print the application fee and says to call the Finance Division for the cost.
• Hours you may knock: The code sets none. Chapter 4-14 and the solicitor license section carry no clock times.
• What the rep carries: The sections read name no badge or ID card. The license itself is the only document the code creates.
• What takes the time: The police check. Each solicitor is fingerprinted and an identification record is made, and no license issues until the Police Department approves it. If the department makes no report within 45 days after the fingerprints are taken, that counts as approval and the license issues (4-3.3124(c)(1)). The city's page says the investigation may take up to 45 days. Each applicant also files a written statement appointing the Director of Finance as agent for service of process (4-3.3124(b)).
• Code: Santa Maria Municipal Code 4-3.3124, Solicitor or canvasser; Chapter 4-14, Peddlers and Solicitors (4-14.01 to 4-14.04). The host says the code includes legislation through Ord. No. 2026-01, adopted April 7, 2026.
• Worth knowing: A "No Peddler", "No Solicitors" or "No Peddlers or Solicitors" sign, or words of similar import, makes it unlawful to ring the bell or knock (4-14.01 to 4-14.03), unless a member of the household invited or consented to the visit (4-14.04). A rep who sells and delivers on the spot is a peddler under a separate section with its own annual tax and the same fingerprint check (4-3.396).
• Read it yourself: Santa Maria Municipal Code 4-3.3124, Solicitor or canvasser · Santa Maria Municipal Code Chapter 4-14, Peddlers and Solicitors · City of Santa Maria: Business License · checked 19 September 2026

Ask the clerk, and write the answer down:

• The business license application fee that is added to the solicitor license tax
• Whether a company with no office in Santa Maria can use the certified-list route, or every rep is fingerprinted
• The fingerprinting cost and the next available Records Bureau appointment
• Whether the city enforces any knocking hours

Clerk’s name ______________ Direct line ______________ Date called ______________