New State Law Raises Penalties for Participating In Sideshows

An Assembly bill introduced by Assemblymember Catherine Stefani that was endorsed by SF Mayor Daniel Lurie has now been signed into law, providing fines and penalties statewide for engaging in sideshow activity.

There is now a patchwork of local laws around the Bay Area region meant to discourage illegal sideshows and penalize their participants — none of which have necessarily worked in any longterm way. Now a state law, just signed by Governor Gavin Newsom, raises the stakes somewhat for sideshow participants and extends penalties to dirtbikes and motorcycles as well.

The governor's office announced the signing of AB 1588 on Sunday, which was celebrated by Mayor Daniel Lurie and Assemblymember and former SF supervisor Catherine Stefani.

"Crime numbers are down across the city, but numbers don't mean anything if San Franciscans don’t feel safe, and stopping sideshows will help both," Lurie said in a statement. "With this new law, we are sending a clear message: Dangerous sideshows have no place in our neighborhoods, and we will use every tool available to stop them."

SFPD Chief Derrick Lew added in a statement that his "officers will continue to work diligently to crack down on sideshow and stunt driving and follow up on investigations to impound vehicles and hold perpetrators accountable."

And Stefani added, "Sideshows are dangerous, reckless, and can turn deadly in an instant. AB 1588 makes sure people who repeatedly put our communities at risk face real consequences. I am grateful to Governor Newsom for signing this bill and to Mayor Lurie for working with me to make our streets safer."

AB 1588 expands upon existing anti-sideshow laws, making sideshow participants felony-eligible in the case of serious bodily injury, adding motorcycles and unlicensed dirt bikes to the framework, and authorizing impoundment of vehicles upon conviction for sideshow-related offenses, with increased penalties for repeat offenders.

Previously, late last year, Lurie worked with Supervisor Danny Sauter on local legislation that raised fines for sideshow participation from $500 to $1000.

This followed an uptick in sideshow activity in San Francisco and on the Bay Bridge, where in earlier years such activity had primarily occurred in the East Bay and elsewhere.

San Jose has one of the strictest anti-sideshow laws in the region, which took effect in 2022, and which penalizes observers and promoters of sideshows in addition to participant drivers. It seems as though the law has been sporadically enforced, including with a coordinated raid/blockade on a sideshow in November 2022 that resulted in around 700 citations. In late 2024, San Jose police announced the arrest of seven men who were dubbed "The Hockey Team," and who were charged under the new law with organizing and promoting at least 22 sideshows.

Here in San Francisco, police arrested multiple people in connection with an Outer Richmond sideshow in late January, which occurred about a month after a disruptive sideshow in the otherwise quiet Outer Sunset, a few days before the new year.

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