The SLO city council this week voted 4-1 to pass ordinances designed to limit aggressive panhandling within city limits. Before passing the new laws — conceived by the city’s Transient Task Force — council members tweaked the language. Most notably, instead of establishing a two-hour time limit for sitting on public benches, the council approved a one-hour limit instead. There will still be a three-hour total daily use limit by any individual or group of individuals. 

 The ordinances also establish the legal distance for panhandlers from entranceways to stores (six feet), commercial driveways (six feet), and automatic teller machines (25 feet). There will be no panhandling allowed on street medians, roadways, on/off ramps, or within ten feet of city street intersections (including intersections with state roads).
 Vice Mayor Allen Settle cast the lone dissenting vote.