Ouachita Parish, LA Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Sec. 15-21, adopted by Ordinance No. 8938 on August 3, 2009 and amended by Ordinance No. 8999 on June 4, 2012, targets roadside and median solicitation aimed at drivers. Subsection (a) makes it unlawful for any person to stand or stay on the road surface, meaning the traveled portion of the roadway itself rather than the shoulder or median, for the purpose of soliciting contributions or purchases from motorists in vehicles stopped at intersections. That wording reaches the classic intersection panhandling and fundraising pattern where someone walks between stopped cars asking for money.

Subsection (b) carves out an exception for adults of the age of majority who are soliciting contributions or sales on behalf of charitable organizations, so a church group or volunteer fire department collecting donations at a red light is not automatically in violation, though they are still expected to stay off the actual road surface under the plain language of subsection (a). The provision applies only within the unincorporated parish; solicitation on streets inside Monroe or West Monroe falls under those cities' own codes rather than this parish section.

The section sits in Article I of Chapter 15's general provisions alongside the parish's other public-safety measures, reflecting its focus on roadway safety rather than commercial regulation.