Corvallis, OR Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Corvallis Municipal Code § 5.03.080.150 makes it unlawful to engage in aggressive panhandling in or upon any public place in the City of Corvallis. The section defines aggressive panhandling narrowly: begging, demanding funds, or soliciting alms or charity where the person knows a reasonable person would find the manner of the begging, demand, or solicitation alarming or threatening. Ordinary, non-threatening requests for money are not reached by this section; the ordinance targets the manner of solicitation, not solicitation itself. The section sits in Chapter 5.03, Article 5.03.080, Offenses Against Persons, alongside related public-order offenses such as intimidation (§ 5.03.080.140) and resisting arrest (§ 5.03.080.090), and is enforced by the Corvallis Police Department.

A violation is classified as a Class C Misdemeanor. Under the general penalty schedule at § 5.03.160.040, a Class C Misdemeanor conviction in Corvallis Municipal Court carries a fine of not more than $500 and a jail term of not more than 30 days. Section 5.03.160.010 gives the City Attorney discretion, stated on the record at arraignment, to instead prosecute the charge as an infraction rather than a misdemeanor; if the case proceeds as an infraction it is treated as a Class A infraction, which caps the penalty at a fine with no jail exposure.

Section 5.03.160.050 additionally limits any Corvallis penalty to the lesser of the local maximum or the penalty set by an identical state statute, so the Court cannot impose a harsher fine or sentence than Oregon law would allow for equivalent conduct.