Chattanooga, TN Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 25-39 defines 'aggressive begging, panhandling, or solicitation' to include confronting someone in a way that would make a reasonable person fear bodily harm, touching someone without consent, using obscene or abusive language while soliciting, continuing to solicit after a negative response, blocking a person's path, or otherwise acting to intimidate someone into giving money. ' Passive panhandling, meaning written requests or non-threatening spoken requests, is treated as speech protected by the First Amendment and is permitted citywide except where the ordinance carves out specific no-go zones.

Those zones include areas with 'heightened personal security concerns,' such as within 20 feet of a parking garage between dusk and dawn, a bus stop or transit entrance, or the entrance to a building, event venue or business; areas with 'heightened privacy concerns,' meaning within 20 feet of an ATM or a sidewalk café during operating hours; and 'heightened public safety concerns,' covering streets and highways, traffic medians with less than eight square feet of flat standing space, and medians on high-speed roadways including the entry and exit ramps of Interstates 24 and 75, Highway 27 and Highway 153. Inside those safety and privacy zones, both aggressive and passive panhandling are barred.