Anchorage, AK Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

The line Anchorage draws is about how you ask, not whether you ask. 160 a routine request for money stays legal, but the section lists six acts that convert it into aggressive panhandling, and committing any single one is enough for a charge. The first is physical: touching the solicited person without that person's consent. The second targets captive audiences, panhandling someone who is standing in line waiting to enter a business and cannot easily walk away. The third covers obstruction, blocking the path of the person being solicited, or blocking the entrance to any building or vehicle.

The fourth is persistence, continuing to follow someone who has already declined to give. The fifth is intimidation, using profane or abusive language, or any statement that would cause a reasonable person to be fearful or feel coerced into making a donation. 160(B)(6), simply panhandling in a group of two or more persons is aggressive on its own, so a pair asking together is over the line even if both stay polite. The ordinance was enacted through AO No. 2004-109 in 2004, and the Anchorage Police Department enforces it.