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House committee scales back panhandler bill

  A state House committee has adopted legislation that would place restrictions on panhandling. The bill now goes to the House floor.

The bill would outlaw aggressive language and gestures when asking for money. The House Criminal Justice Committee stripped out provisions to ban begging near banks and ATMs. But Shelli Weisberg of the American Civil Liberties Union says there’s still a free speech issue because the bill only applies to panhandling, and not other types of speech that might occur on public streets.

   “We are targeting poor people for criminal activity. There are other ways that I think we            can handle our issues with a lot of panhandlers standing on the corners.”

   The bill was adopted on a party-line vote with Republicans for it and Democrats against. The legislation would replace earlier state and local anti-panhandling laws that have been struck down as unconstitutional.