Is it legal for people in Florida to stand at intersections with cardboard signs, asking for money? What if it’s a firefighter holding out a boot for a charitable contribution, or kids asking for a few bucks in front of Publix to help their team get to the state competition?
Local and state governments have struggled for years to find ways to curtail panhandling in public. Most attempts have been shot down as First Amendment infringement.
Here’s what to know the next time you see a person with a sign, or pick up one yourself.
Is panhandling legal in Florida?
Yes.
As recently as 2020 Florida did have a statewide law against anyone obstructing the “free, convenient, and normal use of any public street, highway, or road” in order to ask for money. Violation was a second-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up 60 days in jail and/or a fine of up to $500. Panhandling was legal, blocking the road to do it was not.
However, the law was struck down that year after a St. Augustine panhandler was repeatedly arrested by the St. Johns County Sheriff’s Department. The U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida ruled the state law unconstitutional.
Did the Supreme Court rule that panhandling was legal?
Many cities, towns and counties have attempted to restrict public solicitation but ever since the U.S. Supreme Court in 2015 ruled that speech is protected under the First Amendment, even speech asking for money, legal challenges to such restrictions have consistently won.
Daytona Beach passed an ordinance prohibiting panhandling in certain areas including streets, sidewalks, medians, and roadways and near bus stops, ATMs and schools that was copied by other local governments, but in 2024 a federal judge ruled it was unconstitutional and permanently blocked the city from enforcing it.
In late January, St. Johns County reached a settlement with three residents who had been warned, fined and even arrested for violating the county’s anti-panhandling ordinance. The county had already paused enforcement, but it made the pause permanent.
Similar challenges in the past few years have also stopped anti-panhandling ordinances in Fort Lauderdale, Pompano Beach, Fort Myers, Tampa, West Palm Beach, Lake Worth Beach, and Miami, among others.
Are there any restrictions against panhandling in Florida?
Yes, but not about the asking-for-money part.
Some local governments have tried to balance freedom of speech and a desire to limit public nuisance by passing ordinances against what’s been called “aggressive panhandling.” That can mean harassment, unwelcome physical touch, intimidation, threats, following people, continuing to ask for money after the person being solicited has said no, and efforts to compel or force contributions.
Law enforcement may invoke loitering ordinances and ask panhandlers to move away from an area, and some local ordinances may prohibit anyone from standing on a median.
In DeLand, panhandling is prohibited at nine “high-risk” intersections as a matter of public safety.
All such ordinances address behavior, not speech. Laws restricting people based on the content of their speech would still be a violation of protected free speech.
Florida bill would have banned panhandling in 2023
There was an attempt three years ago to revive a statewide ban. Pensacola Republican Rep. Alex Andrade’s HB 759 would have added criminal penalties for panhandling in most circumstances and added the potential for panhandling to be a felony. It also would have banned it in most public areas, limited legal panhandling to 9:01 a.m. to 3:59 p.m., and required anyone asking for money on the side of the road to register as a charity with the state.
“If you’re out in the public, engaging with strangers, making contact with strangers, and soliciting money for what you claim to be a charitable purpose, you should be able to show that it’s a charitable purpose,” Andrade said.
The bill died in the Criminal Justice Subcommittee.
C. A. Bridges is a journalist for the USA TODAY Network-Florida’s service journalism Connect team. You can get all of Florida’s best content directly in your inbox each weekday day by signing up for the free newsletter, Florida TODAY.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Is it legal to panhandle on the side of the road in Florida?
Reporting by C. A. Bridges, USA TODAY NETWORK – Florida / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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