Burlington, NC Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Chapter 24, Article I regulates panhandling, begging, and charitable or political solicitation citywide, carried forward from the city's 1959 code through the 2018 recodification and updated by a December 2022 memo. Section 24-2(d) defines solicitation broadly to include any request for immediate contributions arising from begging, panhandling, or charitable or political fundraising, and splits it into "passive" and "aggressive" solicitation. Passive solicitation, meaning oral or written requests that are not aggressive, is treated as speech protected by the First Amendment under Section 24-3 and is prohibited only in three defined zones: areas with heightened personal-security concerns, such as within twenty feet of a parking garage, bus stop, or business entrance where congestion creates a reasonable security concern; areas with heightened privacy concerns, such as within twenty feet of an ATM or a sidewalk cafe; and streets, highways and traffic medians.

Aggressive solicitation, by contrast, is banned citywide under Section 24-4 without any zone limitation. Section 24-2(d)(1) defines it to include confronting someone in a way that would cause a reasonable person to fear bodily harm, accosting an individual to cause fear of imminent harm or a crime against person or property, touching someone without consent, using obscene or abusive language while soliciting, continuing to solicit in close proximity after a negative response or blocking a person's path, and any other conduct a reasonable person would regard as threatening or intimidating.

Distribution of printed materials is separately restricted under Section 24-5, which bars blocking pedestrian traffic on sidewalks and prohibits distribution on public streets altogether. Any violation of the article, whether the citywide aggressive-solicitation ban, a zone violation for passive solicitation, or the printed-materials rule, is a misdemeanor under Section 24-6 punishable by a fine of not more than fifty dollars or imprisonment of not more than seven days.