05-27-2003 Council Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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Request for Council Action continued Page 2 of 3 May 20. 2003 Solicitors and Transient Merchants - Ordinance Constitution. Solicitors of purely Minnesota-made products would appear eligible for licensing as they would not be involved in interstate conunerce. However, other court cases indicate that to require different requirements for different persons conducting essentially the same business amounts to arbitrary, and thus unenforceable, regulation. In addition, anyone who is going from place-to-place for the primary purpose of exercising his or her general State or Federal Constitutional rights should not be licensed because, as with the commerce clause, licensing imposes undue burdens on these constitutional rights. Most of the case law related to this involves people who were exercising First Amendment rights by distributing religious or political information and pamphlets. The fiict that a small fee or contribution may be requested for the pamphlets has not been enough to remove these people ’s Constitutional protections. Licensing Peddlers and Transient Merchants As a result of these court cases, it appears that the City may not regulate any solicitors. Since business solicitors make their sales before obtaining their goods, interstate commerce could be affected; and regulating contribution solicitation could interfere with First Amendment rights. However, peddlers and transient merchants could be licensed because they have their goods in the state and in-hand before they are sold, therefore having no impact on interstate commerce. Although the City cannot license solicitors, the list of Prohibited Activities (Subd. 7 of proposed ordinance) would be applicable to solicitors, as well as peddlers and transient merchants, and would be enforceable by the Police Department. Modified Green River Ordiimnces A modified Green River ordinance, named for the city where it was first used and upheld, makes it a trespass to enter onto any property, whether residential or not, for the purpose of soliciting or peddling, where the property owner has posted a sign stating to the effect “No Peddlers or Solicitors.” This applies everywhere a posting is made, is enforceable against all peddlers and solicitois, including those involved in interstate commerce and those attempting to exercise Constitutional rights, as the prohibition is actually made by the property owner or tenant and not a governmental agency. This approach also allows for criminal prosecution of violators for trespassing. This concept is part of the City’s current Code (Subd. 3-C) and will continue in the proposed ordinance (Subd. 8 of the attached draft ordinance). Summary of Proposed Changes 1 . Our current Code defines business solicitation and contribution solicitation, and treats their licensing procedures differently. Since a recent U.S. Supreme Court case now prohibits even