Montgomery, AL Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Ord. No. 49-2025 added a new division to Chapter 27 targeting dangerous conduct in public rights-of-way, defined to include the roadway, shoulder, sidewalk and median. Sec. 27-362 lists four banned behaviors. The first bars entering or remaining in a roadway to give or receive an object, including money, flyers, newspapers or religious materials, from a vehicle's occupant, a provision aimed squarely at panhandling and median solicitation, though it exempts emergency personnel, authorized public employees, and permit holders. The second, and the one most directly on point for a 'sit-lie' rule, bars standing, sitting or lying on a median outright unless that median is a designated pedestrian refuge and the person is lawfully waiting to cross the street; construction or maintenance personnel are exempted.

The third bars impeding the safe flow of vehicular or pedestrian traffic by any act or omission, including stepping into or remaining in a moving vehicle's path, and the fourth bars walking along an adjacent roadway where a usable sidewalk or shoulder exists. Sec. 27-363 makes any violation a misdemeanor, but tempers enforcement: before a citation can issue, an officer must first give a verbal warning to stop and move to a safer location, and only a repeat or continued violation after that warning, or conduct that has directly caused or is about to cause an imminent accident, injury or other emergency, can be cited immediately.