Boulder, CO Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 5-3-7, "Aggressive Begging Prohibited," bars begging or soliciting aggressively for money or anything of value on any public street, sidewalk, way, mall, park, building, or other public property, or on private property open to the public, while in close proximity to the person addressed. The ordinance defines "aggressive begging" as soliciting accompanied or immediately followed by conduct that is intimidating, threatening, coercive, or obscene and causes the person addressed to reasonably fear for personal safety, or by directing fighting words at that person. Subsection (b) extends liability to accomplices: if one person begs or solicits while another commits the intimidating or threatening act, both have committed the offense, even though only one person actually asked for money.

The ordinance grew out of a broader begging framework; Section 5-3-12, which once prohibited begging in certain locations outright, was repealed by Ordinance No. 8089 in 2015, leaving the aggressive-conduct standard in Section 5-3-7 as Boulder's operative panhandling rule rather than a location-based ban on asking for money. Boulder Municipal Court, which under City Charter Section 87 has exclusive original jurisdiction over municipal misdemeanor and violation charges, handles prosecutions, and the fighting-words element draws on the definition and case law cited in the neighboring Section 5-3-6.