Bartow County, GA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Bartow County's solicitation ordinance, Bartow County Code §§ 44-371 through 44-378, regulates asking for money, business or employment on public streets and highways in unincorporated Bartow County. § 40-6-97(b) to prohibit any person from standing or entering on a highway or public street to solicit employment, business or contributions from the occupant of any vehicle or any pedestrian without a permit. Section 44-373(b) then limits who can even apply for that permit: only a charitable organization, defined as a group qualified under Section 501(c) of the Internal Revenue Code, a Georgia nonprofit corporation, a church, or a public or private school, can obtain an event permit from the sheriff.

Persons, businesses and other organizations that do not meet that definition are not eligible for a permit at all, which means an individual panhandler cannot legally solicit from motorists or pedestrians on a Bartow County street under any circumstance. Even a permitted charitable organization faces tight time and place limits under § 44-377. on weekends, and at any time after sunset or before sunrise. S. S. Highway 411 or Georgia Highways 20, 113 or 140 with a five-foot median. Solicitors must stay on medians or sidewalks, out of travel lanes, and only one organization may solicit at a given intersection at a time.