Explanation
BACKGROUND
Columbus City Code requires that organizations wishing to solicit charitable contributions within the City of Columbus must annually obtain a license to do so. There are a number of exemptions to this requirement for certain nonprofit, educational and "bona fide, publicly recognized evangelical, missionary, or religious organizations or charities".
Separately, Columbus City Code also requires that any organization wishing to solicit charitable contributions on a street, highway, or roadway must obtain a permit, which limits the time, place and location where said roadway charitable solicitation may occur. This permit is specific to the type of activity - roadway charitable solicitations - and is separate from the aforementioned charitable license requirement.
There is evidence to suggest that in recent months, there has been an increase in the number of organizations that have engaged in roadway charitable solicitations, but who have not applied for, or received, a permit as required under City Code. Upon investigation, it was discovered that many of the organizations consider themselves to be a "bona fide" religious organization, and believe they are exempt from the permitting requirement, much the same as they are in fact exempt from the charitable license requirement. That was never the intent of the city when the roadway charitable solicitation code was established, though the section is arguably confusing, and needlessly ambiguous. Additionally, the roadway charitable solicitation permit requirement has not been enforced in the case of groups that have represented themselves as religious organizations.
Because the current code is somewhat unclear, it has created an issue of enforcement for the Columbus Division of Police and the Columbus Department of Public Safety, License Section. Some groups soliciting charitable contributions in the roadway have been required to obtain a permit, while others have not. This poses a saf...
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