LOS ANGELES AIRPORT COMMISSIONERS APPROVE PROPOSED "TIME, PLACE, MANNER" REGULATIONS ON SOLICITATION AT LOS ANGELES INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT

(Los Angeles, California -- August 20, 2002) The Los Angeles Board of Airport Commissioners today unanimously (5-0) approved and sent to City Council for adoption a proposed Los Angeles City ordinance regulating the "time, place and manner" in which solicitors can solicit and receive funds at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).

The proposed ordinance would require solicitors to apply for a permit from airport officials and to conduct their solicitation activities from designated booths or areas that would be located in each of the airport's nine passenger terminals. The proposed ordinance does not restrict other forms of communication, such as speaking with travelers about any subject or distributing literature without soliciting funds.

The use of the designated booths or areas will be equitably allocated on a first-come, first-served basis following airport officials' review and approval of written applications.

The proposed ordinance is modeled after a long-established policy used at San Francisco International Airport that restricts solicitors to designated booths.

This proposed "time, place and manner" ordinance is an interim measure while the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office continues an appeal of an August 2, 2001, federal court decision that prevents the implementation and enforcement of a 1997 City ordinance barring charitable, religious or political organizations from soliciting and receiving funds at LAX.

Since the mid-1970s, the City of Los Angeles has enacted two ordinances to regulate or limit solicitation of funds at LAX. Each attempt has been overturned by the courts in constitutional challenges, including one case reaching the U.S. Supreme Court.

The new proposed ordinance is a result of the latest attempt which dates back to 1997, when the City Council approved an ordinance prohibiting the solicitation of funds anywhere inside LAX's terminals, sidewalks or parking lots. Under this earlier ordinance, violators faced six months in jail and a $1,000 fine. In 1998, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals overruled a federal district court decision that the 1997 ordinance was unconstitutional and sent the case back to the district court.

In 2001, a second federal district court judge ruled that the ordinance violated the California Constitution, which she noted was more protective of free speech than the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. That court left open the possibility for the airport to adopt a new ordinance to restrict the "time, place and manner" in which persons can solicit and receive funds in LAX terminals provided the restrictions are narrowly tailored and serve a reasonable purpose.

Airport officials have argued that solicitation activities are annoying and distracting to airport travelers, security personnel, airline employees and patrons; increase pedestrian congestion in the terminals by impeding the flow of pedestrian traffic; cause many passengers to complain of fraud or misrepresentation; disrupt the activities of passengers in the areas of the airport now remaining open to both ticketed and non-ticketed public; expose passengers to continued and repetitive solicitations as they wait in passenger screening, identification and baggage screening lines; and interfere with the business interests of airport tenants.