A Jefferson Parish Councilman says he's working on an ordinance to crack down on panhandling. The challenge, according to the councilman, is writing a law that complies with the First Amendment.
Jefferson Parish Councilman Hans Liljeberg told WWL's Tommy Tucker that's why his ordinance will target both panhandlers and those who give to them.
"You have to have equal protection," Liljeberg said. "What we're looking at doing to make sure that it's constitutional is criminalizing both the act of giving money on the street corner and standing on the corner asking for it."
While the Supreme Court has not directly ruled on the constitutionality of panhandling laws, the court ruled in 1980 that soliciting for money is "closely intertwined with speech." Liljeberg says he's doing his due diligence to make sure his ordinance passes legal scrutiny.
"Your prohibition can't be content based," Liljeberg said. "It's not so much where I'm coming at it from. It's the constraints that we have to operate within because of what the courts tell us."
Liljeberg says he writing the ordinance not only to pass constitutional muster, but also to keep residents of his parish safe.
"If it's dangerous to solicit on a street corner, then you have to penalize both behaviors, both the giving of money and the solicitation of money," Liljeberg said. "There are ways to give aid and ways to receive aid. You just can't do it on a street corner. If I have my way, if I get this ordinance passed, you won't be able to solicit because you're homeless, and you won't be able to solicit on a street corner for (the) Muscular Dystrophy (Association)."
Liljeberg expects to introduce his ordinance at the March 27th parish council meeting.
