Owensboro, KY Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Owensboro's solicitation ordinance, added by Ord. No. 24-99 on May 18, 1999, does not create a separate aggressive-panhandling standard based on touching, following, or blocking a person's path; instead it bans solicitation activity in the public right-of-way outright, defining that right-of-way as the traveled portion of dedicated streets, roads, or alleys, including medians, from curb to curb, within the city's corporate limits. The prohibition reaches soliciting financial assistance, employment, transportation, donations, money, goods, or any other service, whether for private benefit, commercial gain, or a charitable purpose, and applies whether the solicitation is directed at occupants of motor vehicles or at pedestrians.

The ordinance carves out one exception: a right-of-way temporarily closed by the Owensboro Police Department for a government-sponsored event or an approved community festival or activity. Violating the solicitation ban carries the same penalty as the article's sidewalk-obstruction provision: a fine not to exceed $250.00, imprisonment for not more than ninety (90) days, or both, with every 24-hour period of continued violation treated as a separate offense. Because the rule is a blanket prohibition on curb-to-curb solicitation rather than a conduct-based standard, a panhandler standing on a median asking drivers stopped at a light for money violates § 25-12.1(b) regardless of whether the request is polite or aggressive; the Owensboro Police Department enforces the section citywide, including outside downtown's central traffic district.