ASHLAND — A new ordinance in Ashland makes it illegal to panhandle and defines restrictions on improper solicitation.
Ashland City Council unanimously approved of the law last week, and first introduced the legislation earlier in September.
The city adopted the rules following “multiple people” contacting offices complaining about people panhandling for cash. Police don’t have accurate records of related citations, however, because Ashland has never defined it in codified ordinances, said Ashland Police Chief Dave Lay.
“Those types of calls are classified as disturbances. So people have reported that sort of thing, but it’d be difficult to determine (how many of them are examples of panhandling),” he said.
Lay said he’d have to sift through the thousands of “disturbance” calls to determine whether each specific call classified as panhandling or improper solicitation.
Ashland Mayor Matt Miller said the city doesn’t have a panhandling problem.
“But we don’t want a problem,” he said.
The mayor noted this legislation is a proactive approach that enables officers to enforce future violations.
“Council desires to protect residents from the fear and intimidation accompanying certain kinds of solicitation and panhandling,” reads the ordinance.
How is ‘solicitation’ defined in Ashland’s law?
Solicitation is defined as: “any request while in a public place, for an immediate grant of money, goods or any other form of gratuity from another person when the person making the request is not known to the person who are subject of the request, or to engage in such activity on private property.”
Where is improper solicitation illegal in Ashland?
- In a public transportation vehicle (such as buses)
- Within 20 feet of any ATM or public entrance to a bank
- While someone is in their vehicle, or entering/exiting their vehicle
- Private property without permission from the owner
- Public right-of-ways (sidewalks, crosswalks)
- Private and public parking lots
- Within any outdoor dining areas
When is improper solicitation illegal in Ashland?
Anytime after dark or before the sun rises. During Daylight Savings Time, that will be between 8 p.m. and 7 a.m. When DST is not in effect, that period of time will be between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m.
The law also states it will be illegal to solicit “while standing in line waiting to be admitted to a commercial establishment.”
What about ‘aggressive’ solicitation?
Ashland’s law also defines “aggressive” solicitation as impeding someone from entering a building or vehicle or following someone.
It also prohibits “soliciting in a manner that would alarm, intimidate, threaten, menace, harass, or coerce a reasonable person” and includes using profane or “abusive” language.
Those soliciting are prohibited from touching without consent.
What’s the penalty?
Violators face a minor misdemeanor.
But those who are charged with the same citation three times or more in the same year will face a fourth-degree misdemeanor, which could come with jail time and a fine up to $250.
Free speech?
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 that “solicitation for money is closely intertwined with speech” and that “solicitation to pay or contribute money is protected under the First Amendment.”
Since then, however, the Supreme Court has allowed restrictions when they are not too broad. So rules defining where and when such behavior is prohibited have generally been upheld, according to the Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University.
The Supreme Court’s 2015 decision in Reed v. Town of Gilbert, however, has had “an impact on panhandling litigation, as the lower courts have invalidated numerous panhandling laws as impermissible content-based restrictions on speech.”
Canton City Council, for example, repealed its panhandling law in 2019 after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened a legal challenge. Other U.S. cities have gone through similar scenarios.
“The courts, in these series of decisions, said people’s inconvenience or distaste for a certain type of speech is not sufficient compelling state interest,” said Canton’s law director, Kristen Bates Aylward, at the time. “In other words, just because you don’t like what they’re talking about does not mean it can be restricted.”
Read the city’s law for yourself below.