Anyone who panhandles must pay for a permit to do so, starting on July 1.
That’s when a bill the Legislature passed during the 2025 session goes into effect.
Sean Tindell, commissioner of the Mississippi Department of Public Safety, said Capitol Police officers plan to enforce the law, although that will most likely mean initially educating anyone who is panhandling about the law.
“What we’ll do is when we see an individual is panhandling is to tell them they need to get a permit,” he said. “We’ll give them a warning and an opportunity to get a permit.”
Capitol Police is currently working with the Mississippi Department of Public Safety’s legal team to finalize a permit request form, which is expected to be completed by July 1, Tindell said. Once approved, the forms will be available at Capitol Police Headquarters, 350 High Street.
“The requesting party” must complete the form and pay a fee, not to exceed $25 in accordance with state statute, he said. Once submitted and approved, a permit will be issued.
Capitol Police and the Jackson Police Department will work together to ensure that only one permit is issued for the same location, Tindell said.
“We’ll coordinate those efforts, so we don’t issue two permits for one location,” he said.
Tindell doesn’t expect every panhandler will know about the requirement when it takes effect or that the Capitol Complex Improvement District will be clear of panhandlers that day.
“It’s not like we’re going to have a big van, arresting everyone who is panhandling on July 1,” he said.
Officers will enforce the law more strictly as people become more familiar with it, which he expects will take two or three months, he said.
Tindell expects people who panhandle and do not comply with the law to eventually get tickets. Law enforcement officers can use their discretion and determine if a ticket is merited or a warning, he said, just as they can in many situations.
“The goal is to make sure that individuals are safe, that we don’t have too many people in one area and that they’re doing it in locations that by law are allowed,” he said. House Bill 1197 is very specific about when and where solicitation can take place and provides penalties for anyone who violates those.
Solicitation can take place only between the hours of 9 a.m. and one hour before sunset.
The law prohibits a solicitor from impeding traffic and requires that he or she enter or remain in a roadway, street or thoroughfare only while controlling traffic signal prohibits vehicular traffic. A solicitor must remain within 100 feet of or from the intersection approved by the permit.
Solicitation activities are not supposed to interfere with the “safe and efficient movement of traffic and shall not cause danger to the participants or the public,” according to the legislation.
No one solicitating “shall persist after solicitation has been denied, act in a demanding or harassing manner, or use any sound or voice-amplifying apparatus or device,” according to the law.
According to the law, only one permit will be issued for an intersection on any given day. Permits, which are not supposed to cost more than $25, are to be issued on a first-come basis and will require the individual seeking one to list his or her name, mailing address and telephone number plus the location and times the solicitation will occur.
The legislation gives the governing authority the right to “stop solicitation activities at any time if the conditions or requirements of the legislation are not met.”
Anyone guilty of intentionally obstructing or interfering with the “normal use” of vehicles or pedestrians on a public street or highway or sidewalk will be guilty of a misdemeanor. Conviction of such would carry a fine of not more than $400 or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than four months or both.
The CCID Court has been very busy since it began hearing cases, Tindell said, but even so would be able to hear any panhandling cases.
Tindell believes the law will have an impact on the number of panhandlers as the word gets out about it, just as another law that goes into effect on July 1 will prohibit encampments on public property.
“Large and medium-sized cities across the country have an issue with homelessness, particularly in areas like the South where we have a warm climate,” he said.
Tindell believes a mental health crisis contributes to the number of homeless people plus as do people who choose to be homeless because they don’t want to be burdened by society’s demands.
He believes the country’s mental health crisis should be addressed from an overall approach, although he doesn’t have an idea about how to successfully do that.
The panhandling legislation will go into effect not just in Jackson but across the state.
Tindell said it will be up to municipalities across the state to determine how strict or lax they plan to be in enforcement.
