Title:
Title
Ordinance Deleting Sacramento City Code chapter 8.134, Relating to Aggressive or Intrusive Solicitation (Two-Thirds Vote Required)
End
FileID
File ID: 2019-00522
Location
Location: Citywide
Recommendation:
Recommendation
1) Pass a Motion by two-thirds vote waiving the Council Rules of Procedure requirement that ordinances go to the Law and Legislation Committee (Rule 7.K and 13.B) prior to council approval; and 2) adopt an Ordinance deleting Sacramento City Code chapter 8.134, relating to aggressive or intrusive solicitation, and publish the ordinance in its entirety per City Charter section 32(d) in lieu of pass for publication.
Contact: Sean Richmond, Senior Deputy City Attorney, (916) 808-5346, Office of the City Attorney; Justin Eklund, Police Captain, Central Command, (916) 808-4500, Police Department
Body
Presenter: None
Attachments:
1-Description/Analysis
2-Ordinance (Clean)
3-Ordinance (Redlines)
Description/Analysis
Issue Detail: The city's aggressive or intrusive solicitation ordinance was passed in 2017. The ACLU filed a lawsuit in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California, challenging the ordinance as being in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. Thereafter, the ACLU moved the court for a preliminary injunction banning enforcement of the ordinance. The court granted the preliminary injunction.
Policy Considerations: Under United States Supreme Court precedent, solicitation (i.e., panhandling) is a free speech right under the First Amendment and any proposed law affecting that right must be viewed under a strict scrutiny analysis: the law must further a compelling government interest and must be narrowly tailored to achieve that interest. Strict scrutiny is the highest standard of review a court will use to evaluate the constitutionality of government regulation and the district court has ruled that the subject city code chapter does not pass strict ...
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