Omaha, NE Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

" The ordinance defines solicitation broadly to include verbal or nonverbal words, acts, or bodily gestures conducted to obtain a donation directly or indirectly, so the ban covers gestures and signs, not just spoken requests. Subsection (b) lists specific conduct that makes a solicitation "aggressive": panhandling a person at an automated teller machine or other cash-dispensing location from within 15 feet; repeating a panhandling request after the person already refused, ignored, or declined; repeating requests when the person solicited is stationary, in a line, or stopped in traffic; touching the solicited person without consent immediately before, during, or after the request; panhandling on private property without the owner's permission; blocking the solicited person's path or blocking entrance to a building or vehicle; and following behind, alongside, or ahead of the person after the request or after being refused.

Any one of these seven behaviors is enough to make the solicitation unlawful under the ordinance, even a single instance of touching, blocking, or soliciting on private property without permission. Subsection (c) sets the penalty by cross-reference to section 20-1, the chapter's general penalty provision, which applies the Code's default fine and jail exposure under section 1-10 where no other specific penalty is stated. Adopted by Ordinance No. 40579 on December 8, 2015, section 20-7 sits in Chapter 20 alongside the street vendor and peddler permit rules, and the Code cross-references section 19-89's peddler permit requirement as a related, but separate, regulation covering commercial door-to-door sales rather than panhandling.