Despite court rulings that begging for money is protected by free speech, some cities and at least one state are considering recent restrictions on begging on traffic shoulders, saying it poses a safety threat.
The Democratic governor of New Mexico this year and a Republican congressman from Arizona last year proposed statewide bans on soliciting money on medians, but neither passed. Wilmington, North Carolina, passed a similar Regulation this yearand Roanoke, Virginia, has enforced a Law This has been in effect since last year. Homeless advocates have filed a lawsuit against a similar law in Jacksonville, Florida.
A handful of cities are turning to incentives as a solution: Oklahoma City, where courts lifted a ban on begging, offers beggars cleanup work in the cityPhiladelphia and Fairfax County, Virginia, have similar programs, and Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, recently reinstated one.
Efforts have intensified amid a nationwide homelessness crisis, with more people visibly asking for money on the streets and higher Pedestrian deaths compared to before the pandemic. Supporters of the bans argue that they promote safety, but opponents say there is no evidence that such restrictions protect pedestrians and they violate the right to free speech. Court rulings are mixed.
Many of the recent laws or proposed laws prohibiting pedestrians from crossing narrow medians followed a law in Sandy City, Utah, that a federal appeals court upheld in 2019. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take the case in 2020 and left the law in place. The regulation makes it “unlawful for any person to sit or stand for any period of time in or on an unpaved median or a median less than 36 inches wide.”
In New Mexico, the state with the highest rate of Pedestrian deaths of all states, according to a Governors Highway Safety Association report based on 2023 data – Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham this year proposed a state law banning pedestrians from walking on narrow medians. Some New Mexico cities, including Santa Fe and Española, already have such bans. Benjamin Baker, a safety adviser to the governor, said it makes sense to keep panhandlers and others off medians near cars.
Like other supporters of the bans, Baker acknowledged that there is no clear link between panhandling and pedestrian deaths, but he said it makes intuitive sense to ban seemingly hazardous activities such as standing on narrow medians in bulky traffic.
“It’s not about exercising free speech,” Baker said, adding that begging is OK in a unthreatening environment.
But MPs from their own party rejected the funding Lujan Grisham’s bill. And during a special public safety session called by the governor in July, the bill was Sole sponsor was Republican Senator Mark Moores from Albuquerque.
“Pangling is out of control throughout New Mexico and especially in Albuquerque,” Moores said. “It’s just unsafe. People are running back and forth through heavy traffic. We have to balance their right to free speech with public safety.”
Despite her defeat in Parliament, Lujan Grisham continued Lobbying for their bill in a series of town hall meetings across the state in July, saying she wanted a statewide version of the city of Española’s 2022 law banning loitering on narrow medians.
Efforts elsewhere
The American Civil Liberties Union has against it A recent law In Bangor, Maine, a law was passed in June that prohibits pedestrians from entering medians less than 6 feet wide in areas of fast-moving traffic.
Everyone talks about how we need to get rid of these beggars: “We don’t want homeless people,” and then they turn around and say it’s about safety. That’s not going to work.
– Scout Katovich, Attorney, American Civil Liberties Union Trone Center for Justice and Equality
Courts have struck down some similar laws. In 2020, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a ban in Oklahoma City, ruling that the city failed to demonstrate a clear safety problem due to pedestrians on road medians. The U.S. Supreme Court refused to take the case and let the ruling stand.
Scout Katovich, an attorney with the ACLU’s Trone Center for Justice and Equality, said pedestrian safety is not a credible motive for the recent legislation.
“Everyone talks about how we need to get rid of these beggars. ‘We don’t want homeless people,’ and then they turn around and say it’s about safety. That’s not going to work,” Katovich said.
In Roanoke, Virginia, a ban on begging on medians less than 4 feet wide has been in effect since last year, and enforcement is increasing. About a hundred $25 tickets have been issued since the spring, Roanoke police Capt. Andrew Pulley said. Repeat offenders could face larger fines or jail time, he said.
Police have received complaints about panhandlers and the city is trying to respond, Pulley said. Issuing tickets discourages panhandling, he said, but the effect is usually only momentary.
“It’s like driving too fast. When we’re there, it’s better, but when you leave and come back, it’s back again.”
In Arizona, Republican Senator John Kavanagh, who sponsored anti-begging legislation in 2015, last year introduced a bill Combating panhandling on highways. A committee approved the bill along party lines, but it did not make it to the Senate.
A legal challenge
In Florida, the Homeless Voice newspaper sued the city of Jacksonville over a recent law that prohibits panhandling in high-traffic areas and prevents many of its employees from working in the city. The newspaper employs homeless people to distribute its newspaper on the street and solicit donations.
Workers could earn up to $100 a day, often enough to share a hotel room or even pay rent in some areas, said Sean Cononie, editor of Homeless Voice.
“We’re going backwards in this country,” Cononie said. “People think homeless people are lazy, but they’re not. This is hard work.”
The Jacksonville Homeless Voice’s staff recently shrank from 90 to eight, he said, because police warned his employees to stop asking drivers on the street for money.
In the Jacksonville case, federal judge Timothy Corrigan allowed the city to continue enforcing the law during an upcoming trial, noting that the city had offered to suspend enforcement on public sidewalks and enforce only on medians. Corrigan called it a “conflict between First Amendment rights and public safety concerns” but did not say how he would rule.
In court documents, Jacksonville defended the ban, saying it was motivated by concern for pedestrian safety and that the city respected Homeless Voice’s right to solicit money on sidewalks, but not “on the city’s busiest streets” without the required permit.
