Contra Costa County Vendor Fee Waivers for Veterans

Business license. The Treasurer-Tax Collector issues the unincorporated county's business licence. Its Claim for Veteran's Exemption from License Fees applies Business and Professions Code section 16102: the licence is still required, but the fee is waived for an honorably discharged veteran who is the sole owner (a married couple counts), sells tangible goods the veteran owns, not services, and sells no alcohol. Attach the DD-214. Section 16102 itself also covers a release from active duty under honorable conditions; see the California entry for the State's broader peddling exemption in section 16001.7. The claim form's "not services" is narrower than State law since 2020: section 16001.8 frees an honorably discharged California veteran who is the sole proprietor of a business selling goods or providing services from any local business license fee. Health permit. Ordinance Code section 413-3.1006 has the health officer issue an environmental health permit without fee to an honorably discharged veteran who is the sole owner of the business, or a co-owner only with other honorably discharged veterans, and does not sell alcohol. Solicitor and peddler permit. Section 56-4.406, re-enacted December 3, 2024, issues the permit with no application, renewal or permit fee to a veteran who received an honorable discharge or was released from active duty under honorable conditions, once the application is approved. Every other requirement of the chapter still applies, and the waiver does not reach the veteran's family, employees, partners or agents, or a veteran who engages peddlers or solicitors. These are county fees. A city sets its own business licence fees inside city limits, though sections 16102, 16001.7 and 16001.8 bind cities too.