Here’s how this Gwinnett city is cracking down on panhandlers

Snellville has passed a new aggressive solicitation ordinance.

Snellville has passed a new aggressive solicitation ordinance.

Snellville has adopted a new aggressive solicitation ordinance, restricting where people can ask for money and enacting punishments for people who lie about why they need cash.

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The city cited a “growing problem of those who aggressively approach residents in retail parking lots asking for money” as the reason for the new ordinance.

The the new rules, passed March 21 in a 4-1 vote, prohibit people asking for money from making physical contact with the people they are soliciting, following them or “generally scaring or intimidating them.”

People are also prohibited from asking for money within 15 feet of a financial institution, check cashing businesses or ATMs. The ordinance bans people from asking for money in exchange for reserving a parking space. People who lie about being a veteran, disabled or homeless can also be punished under these rules.

Anyone convicted of violating the city ordinance can be fined up to $1,000 or sentenced to up to six months in prison.

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