PUSHY PANHANDLERS:
Tenn. House approves bill making aggressive begging a misdemeanor criminal offense.
NASHVILLE — The House of Representatives gave final legislative approval Wednesday to a bill establishing “aggressive panhandling” as a new misdemeanor criminal offense in Tennessee.
If Gov. Bill Haslam signs it into law as expected, a person could be charged with aggressive panhandling for soliciting a donation of money or goods in any of the following ways:
Intentionally touching t he person being solicited without the person’s consent.
Intentionally obstructing the path of the person or the vehicle of the person being solicited.
Following a person walking away from solicitation unless that person has indicated he or she wishes to make a donation.
Making any statement, gesture or other communication that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear of personal harm for refusing a donation.
Conviction on a first offense would be a Class C misdemeanor under the state’s criminal code, punishable by up to 30 days in jail and up to $50 in fines. A second or subsequent conviction is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to $500 in fines and up to 90 days in jail. It would go into effect July 1.
Senate Bill 596 was sponsored by Sen. Brian Kelsey, R-Germantown, and Rep. Raumesh Akbari, D-Memphis, and passed the Senate 29- 0 on March 23 and the House 94-1 on Wednesday, in both chambers without any debate.
Kelsey said he worked with the Greater Memphis Chamber of Commerce on the bill, to protect individuals, businesses and tourism from aggressive panhandlers. “Aggressive panhandling is a problem in our state for a number of reasons we are addressing with this bill,” he said.
“People have the right to bodily integrity, they have the right not to be touched if they do not want to be touched. And the state has
an interest in promoting bodily i ntegrity, public safety, in regulating the flow of pedestrian and vehicular traffic, in protecti ng t he businesses t hat exist in this state, making sure that there is proper ingress and egress of those businesses. And we have an interest in promoting tourism,” Kelsey said.
ABORTION BILLS MOVE IN LEGISLATURE
The House Health Committee recommended approval of a bill Wednesday to step up regulation of doctors’ offices where 50 or more abortions a year are performed.
House Bill 1368 requires those offices to be licensed as ambulatory surgical treatment centers, subject to a higher level of state inspection and regulation. It now heads for a House floor vote, likely next week. The bill is also awaiting review in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Ashley Coffield, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the Greater Memphis Region, said that although Planned Parenthood clinics are already licensed as ASTCs, “we don’t think it’s necessary to require doctors’ offices to be licensed as ASTCs to protect the health of the woman. I think the real intent is to make it harder for women to get abortions.”
Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, said the bill she’s sponsori ng “f ul fi l l s a promise to Tennessee voters” — a reference to the ratification last November of a state constitutional amendment giving the legislature more authority to regulate abortion.
The House committee is set to consider a larger abortion bill next Wednesday, House Bill 977, which requires a minimum 48-hour waiting period between a woman’s “informed consent” visit to an abortion provider and the abortion itself. It would also impose a new set of “informed consent” notifications that doctors must give the woman on the earlier visit.
Those notifications include the probable age of the fetus; its capability of survival outside the womb if the fetus is at least 22 weeks old; that if the child is prematurely born alive in the course of the abortion, the doctor has a legal obligation to try to preserve its life and health; and that services including adoptions are available.
An “intentional or knowing” violation of parts of the bill would subject a physician to felony charges and other parts to misdemeanor charges, and loss of his or her medical license.