Conroe, TX Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

City Code § 46-9, adopted by Ordinance No. 2242-15 in 2015 and amended by Ordinance No. 2465-19 in 2019, defines aggressive manner to include physically touching the person solicited without consent, following them in a way likely to cause fear of imminent harm, continuing to solicit within five feet after a negative response, blocking someone's safe passage or forcing evasive action, using obscene or abusive language or gestures, or approaching in a way likely to intimidate. The offense provision reaches solicitation done in an aggressive manner in any public area, on a bus or at a transit stop or facility, at a marked crosswalk, on either side of a street on a block with a school or child-care entrance, or at a sidewalk cafe or the patio of a bar or restaurant, and additionally bans any solicitation, aggressive or not, within 25 feet of an automated teller facility, a bank entrance or exit, or a check-cashing business entrance or exit.

The council's findings state aggressive solicitation is disturbing and disruptive and that soliciting near banks and ATMs is especially troublesome because those spots are confined and hard to avoid. The section expressly does not prohibit a demand for payment for services rendered or goods delivered. No culpable mental state need be proved for the offenses occurring on transit, near financial facilities, or at a marked crosswalk.