People will no longer need a permit to peacefully protest on public property in Louisville.
Metro Council approved changes to local law Thursday night that supporters say will allow for more free expression and consistency in how the city manages protests. Protest organizers won’t need to apply for permits for demonstrations in public parks and on city-owned streets.
Previously, anyone looking to block off the street for an event or protest had to get a parade permit and notify the city if they would need any public services like police or posted signage. The permitting process also applied to gatherings in city-owned parks and people could be cited for protesting in those areas without permission.
District 19 Council Member Anthony Piagentini, who heads the Republican Caucus, sponsored the ordinance. He said the changes will make it easier for people to exercise their First Amendment rights.
“We’ve created a bunch of obstacles that really aren’t necessary,” Piagentini said in an interview ahead of the meeting.
A parade permit application costs $25.There’s an application fee of $40 for small events on city-owned land, like public parks. Organizers must also provide the city with a site plan, a security plan and, in some cases, proof of event insurance.
Piagentini said the law makes it costly for someone who wants to abide by the rules and request a permit. And he said organizers typically aren’t cited if they decide not to get a permit.
Piagentini said the Louisville Tea Party applied for a permit to host a rally in a Louisville park some years ago, but ended up abandoning the idea because it would have required them to hire security and rent porta-potties.
Meanwhile, other groups have organized protests in public parks and city streets without getting a permit and have not faced repercussions, he said.
“What we’re trying to do is have the law match the way the [mayor’s] administration is administering it,” Piagentini said. “In some cases they are enforcing, in some cases they are not and there’s a fundamental unfairness to that.”
Piagentini said he doesn’t think that the inconsistency in enforcement is ideological, pointing to the gun-control advocacy group Moms Demand Action, which he said had a parade permit application denied. He said the changes should “level that whole playing field.”
Under the ordinance approved by Metro Council, groups will not need a permit for “peaceful demonstrations related to protected first amendment speech.” The same will apply to street protests, which previously required a parade permit.
Some restrictions will remain.
Protests in public parks cannot disrupt “previously approved permitted uses of that same park.” And street protests cannot disrupt traffic to the point where there are no alternative routes for drivers and emergency personnel cannot go where they’re needed. The rules related to street protests do not apply to state-owned roads that Louisville doesn’t control.
Council members debated the exact language around regulating street protests.
District 6 Council Member J.P. Lyninger, a Democrat, raised concerns in committee about the original wording of Piagentini’s proposal, which required a permit for protests that disrupt traffic “in any manner.”
Lyninger said the final language, which was approved by amendment Thursday night, makes it clear that permitless street protests are OK as long as they aren’t causing gridlock.
“Councilman Piagentini was 100% willing to work with me on this amendment,” Lyninger said. “He stated over and over that that was the intent. If that’s the intent, then let's see it in the law.”
Lyninger ultimately voted in favor of the amended ordinance, which passed Metro Council unanimously. He said the measure is “unquestionably an expansion of free speech rights here in Louisville.”
