(a) “Panhandle” or “panhandling” means to approach or stop another person for the purpose of asking for or soliciting a donation of immediate personal financial assistance from them.
(b) It is unlawful for any person to panhandle in an aggressive manner, including any of the following actions:
(1) Panhandling in a manner that impedes access to or from, or use of a building, vehicle or establishment;
(2) Panhandling in a manner that would alarm, intimidate, threaten, menace, harass or coerce a reasonable person;
(3) Following behind, ahead or alongside, blocking the path of, or continuing to solicit a person who has walked or driven away or who has given notice or demonstrated verbally or physically that he or she does not want to be solicited;
(4) Using profane or abusive language, or gestures, either during the solicitation or following a refusal, or making any statement gesture or other communication that would cause a reasonable person to be fearful or feel threatened; or
(5) Making physical contact with the solicited person without that person having given his or her prior consent to the physical contact.
(c) It is unlawful for any person to knowingly make a false or misleading representation in the course of panhandling, including any of the following:
(1) Stating that the donation is needed to meet a need that does not exist;
(2) Untruthfully stating that the person panhandling is from out-of-town and stranded;
(3) Untruthfully stating that the person is homeless;
(4) Stating or representing that the person panhandling is a member of a military service when the person panhandling is neither a present nor a former member of a military service; or
(5) Stating or representing that the person panhandling suffers from a mental or physical disability when the person soliciting does not suffer from the disability.
(d) Whoever violates this section is guilty of a minor misdemeanor and shall be fined not more than $150. If the offender has been previously convicted of an offense under this section within the past 12 months, then the penalty is a fourth-degree misdemeanor and the offender shall be fined not more than $250 and/or imprisoned not more than 30 days.
(Ord. 2022-46. Passed 10-3-22.)