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Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025

Fact brief: Can cities ban panhandling?

Drew Shaw, Fort Worth Report
no

City ordinances can regulate the time, place and manner of panhandling. However, they cannot completely ban panhandling because that could interfere with people’s First Amendment right to free speech.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1980 “that solicitation to pay or contribute money is protected under the First Amendment.”

Federal courts have since struck down city laws like the attempt to ban panhandling on median strips in Portland, Maine, along with a proposal to ban oral requests for immediate money in Springfield, Illinois. 

Violations of most of these ordinances are punished as a misdemeanor.

See a full discussion of this at Fort Worth Report

This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one.

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