Augusta-Richmond County, GA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 3-7-1(x) creates two defined enforcement districts: the Broad Street/Augusta Common District, running along Broad Street from Fifth to Fifteenth Streets and covering the Augusta Common up to Reynolds Street, and the Armstrong Galleria District, bounded by Hopkins Street, Eighth Street, Laney Walker Boulevard and James Brown Boulevard. Within those districts, no person, alone or as part of a group, may procure or attempt to procure a handout 'in a manner or under circumstances manifesting an express or implied threat or coercion,' with the Code listing specific evidence of that intent: being a previously convicted 'known panhandler,' repeatedly and threateningly stopping passers-by, engaging someone in threatening conversation, or using threatening bodily gestures.

A separate clause bans, after a warning, continuing to procure a handout in the district at all, meaning simple begging becomes unlawful once a person has been told to stop, and another clause independently bans sitting or reclining on a public sidewalk with intent to procure a handout, regardless of threat or coercion. The ordinance requires an arresting officer to first give the person a chance to explain their conduct, and no conviction stands if that explanation, given at trial, was true and showed a lawful purpose. Violations go to the Civil and Magistrate Court of Richmond County, with penalties capped at the maximum allowed under Sec. 3-7-3.