ACLU Targeting Wauwatosa Panhandling Law

WAUWATOSA, WI -- Eight Wisconsin cities, including Wauwatosa, are being targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin for repeal of their local anti-pandhandling laws.

The ACLU and the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty sent letters Tuesday to Altoona, Glendale, Mequon, Racine, Superior, Shorewood and Wauwatosa.

“These cities should take these unconstitutional laws off the books and instead look for more constructive ways to address the needs of our fellow citizens experiencing homelessness and poverty,” Chris Ott, executive director of the state ACLU chapter, said in a prepared statement.

According to a Leader-Telegram report, since a 2015 Supreme Court decision in a free speech case, courts have struck down 25 other city ordinances against panhandling as unconstitutional. Another 31 cities repealed their ordinances, they added.

Here is the text of Wauwatosa's law:

7.48.003 - Aggressive panhandling.

A.
Definitions.
"Aggressive behavior" means engaging in any conduct with the intention of intimidating another person into giving away money or goods, including but not limited to, intentionally approaching, speaking to or following a person in a manner that would cause a reasonable person to fear imminent physical injury or the imminent commission of a criminal act upon the person or upon the property in the person's immediate possession; intentionally touching another person without consent; or intentionally blocking or interfering with the free passage of a person.
"Panhandling" means begging, soliciting or asking for any item of value; attempting to sell or obtain compensation for an item or service for an amount that is at least twice its value, or an item or service that is already offered or available at no charge to the general public; or attempting to sell or obtain compensation for an item or service under circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to conclude that the payment is in substance a donation.
B.
Penalty. Any person who engages in aggressive panhandling, upon conviction, shall be subject to the penalties provided in Section 7.48.160.

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