Tampa, FL Public Conduct: Aggressive Panhandling (2026)

Section 14-46 of the Tampa Code defines aggressive solicitation through three specific triggers rather than banning panhandling outright. First, using any act or language that constitutes an express or implied threat of injury to a person or damage to or loss of property in that person's lawful possession is prohibited. Second, the ordinance bars endeavoring to maintain contact with a solicited person and continuing to verbally demand, ask, beg for, or solicit donations or payment after that person has already given a negative response to the initial ask.

Third, it is unlawful to commit any act intended to impede the passage or free movement of the solicited person: a protection that expressly extends to people on foot, on bicycles, in wheelchairs, or operating or entering and exiting motor vehicles. Because the ordinance is built around these three triggers, a single unwanted request for money is not itself illegal; repetition after a refusal, threats, or physical blocking are what convert solicitation into a violation. Tampa Police Department officers enforce the section, and subsection (b) ties punishment to the Code's general penalty provision, Section 1-6, which authorizes a fine of up to $500, imprisonment up to 60 days, probation up to six months, or a combination, with each day a violation continues charged as a separate offense.

The current text, adopted by Ordinance No. 2013-95 and amended by Ordinance No. 2016-162, replaced a 1993 version (former § 14-46) that had targeted 'threatening, intimidating or harassing behavior for purposes of solicitation' under Ordinance No. 93-110.