"Ordinance Targets Handouts To Panhandlers"

Feeling generous? Be careful. City Council wants to clamp down on that giving spirit.

City Code Sect. 19-8 makes it illegal to solicit anyone in a vehicle without a specific permit, but the panhandlers haven't gone away.

"What's working now is not working," said District 10 City Council member John Clamp.

Instead, Clamp is proposing targeting the motorists who hand over their loose change or a dollar or two.

"I don’t want to penalize motorists, but we’ve got to create a system where they stop giving money," said Clamp, who is seeking input from San Antonio police, magistrate judges, neighborhood leaders and others as to how the proposed ordinance would work.

...

Under the ordinance, San Antonio police would have to witness the donation in order to issue a citation.

(from KSAT-12)

Me? I don't give money away to panhandlers in the roadway, so I'm not at risk under this ordinance. But this seems pretty heavy-handed. It's along the same lines as penalizing someone because some thug sprayed graffiti on his business.