Senate Bill 101 would prohibit standing in a roadway, median divider or intersection to solicit money or donations from the occupant of a vehicle within Wicomico County, sponsor Sen. Mary Beth Carrozza told the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on Jan. 9.

The bill’s sponsor said the measure is modeled on local enabling ordinances already in effect in Carroll, Charles, Hartford and Washington counties and is intended to increase public safety, not to criminalize solicitation.

Carrozza told the committee Salisbury Police Department had responded to 334 calls for service related to money solicitation since January 2022 and that those calls often involved people standing in or very close to active traffic lanes. “Solicitations in roadways pose various challenges and risks to the individuals engaging in this activity, drivers and passengers on the road, the responding officers and the surrounding community,” she said.

Chief David Meinshine of the Salisbury Police Department said the department supports the bill because it would create an additional enforcement option. Meinshine said roughly 25% of those 334 calls involved aggressive or intimidating behavior — about 19 incidents — and that the department had made three criminal arrests in connection with solicitation activity. He emphasized that the department would not use the new citation haphazardly: “This is a tool that we would use as one of the last resorts, not the first.”

Kim Miles, assistant superintendent for student and family services for Wicomico County Public Schools, told the committee the school system supports the bill because soliciting near roadways can endanger students and school buses. Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis said fire departments in Wicomico do not solicit in intersections and that the county’s approach is to issue a prepayable citation under the enabling authority rather than a criminal citation.

Senators asked whether volunteer fire departments elsewhere solicit on streets and whether permitting rather than prohibition would be preferable. Panelists said in Wicomico County firefighters do not solicit from streets and described the bill as a public-safety measure rather than a broad prohibition on all forms of fundraising.

Carrozza said she had discussed moving the bill’s effective date from Oct. 1 to June 1 to cover the summer months when the safety concern is heightened. The committee held the bill hearing and concluded without a formal vote.

The hearing record includes letters of support from Salisbury University, the Salisbury police chief, Wicomico County Sheriff Mike Lewis, Wicomico County Executive Julie Giordano, the Wicomico County Council, Salisbury University and the Wicomico County Public School System, according to the sponsor.