HomeMy WebLinkAboutA001 - Legal Opinion dated July 13, 2005 - `t City Attorney's Office
Caring People 515 Clark Avenue,P. 0.Box 811
QualiyProgranu Ames,IA 50010
Exceptional Service Phone: 515-239-5146 • Fax: 515-239-5142
July 13, 2005
JUL { 3 2005
The Honorable Ted Tedesco, Mayor 4
and Members of the City Council
CIB� Ct�b�rt
of the City of Ames, Iowa �z CITYV-AMES,IDWA t
1
Re: Registration of Door-to-Door Solicitors
Dear Mayor Tedesco and Council Members:
As you may recall, the constitutionality of the City ordinance requiring registration of door-to-door
solicitors has been challenged in United Youth Careers vs. City of Ames.
Solicitation of money is a form of"speech"protected by the First Amendment. Any regulation that
could affect the exercise of the protected right of free speech is subject to strict scrutiny by the Courts.
Two concerns of the Courts in conducting this scrutiny are: a)suppression of speech under the pretext
of reviewing a pending application for a permit, and b) suppression of speech on the pretext of
collateral law violations. Our ordinance is vulnerable in that regard because it does not set a time limit
for the Clerk to issue or deny the registration; and,gives discretion to revoke a permit for violation of
an unlimited array of "other laws" that might be violated by a person engaged in door-to-door
solicitation.
The proposed ordinance strengthens the City's registration requirement against constitutional
challenge by setting a time limit for action on applications; and, by narrowing the grounds for
revocation to misrepresentation by solicitors of their purpose or association. The amendments will
not change the way the City Clerk has,in fact,administered the ordinance. I ask that the Council enact
the attached ordinance before August 15, the date when the City must file its resistance to the
Plaintiff's Motion for Summary Judgment.
Yours truly,
John R. Klaus
City Attorney
JRK:gmw
c: Sheila Lundt
Loras Jaeger
Jon-Scott Johnson
Diane Voss