LAS VEGAS (FOX5) -
The Board of Clark County Commissioners will introduce a new ordinance on Tuesday which would make picking up handbill litter the responsibility of those who pass it out.
Commissioner Steve Sisolak supports the ordinance which would make the handbillers responsible for their discarded ads within a 50-foot radius of where they're working.
"It's my contention that the person responsible for the litter being there is the one that's handing it to people," Sisolak told FOX5.
A cleanup would have to take place once every 15 minutes, according to language in the ordinance.
Those handing out the cards feel the ordinance is unfair, since they can't control what people who take their cards do with them.
"A lot of people will be rude, just to drop their cards. They'll watch me hand it to them and just move their hand," said Stephanie Long, who works as a handbiller for Fat Burger on the Strip.
Long, who hands out 2-for-1 drink coupons at Fat Burger, said cleaning up would be too time consuming.
"It'd be really difficult for us to stop what we're doing in our promotion job and go chase cards down the Strip," Long said.
The ACLU of Nevada said it plans to fight this ordinance because it isn't easily enforced and it won't stand up in court.
"There's a general principle in law that everyone can understand. You're responsible for your behavior, you're not responsible for someone else's behavior," said Allen Lichtenstein, General Counsel for the ACLU of Nevada.
But Sisolak believes if you hand out trash, people will treat it as trash.
"The entire time I was there I did not see one person grab the card and look at it and go, Oh that's interesting, and put it in their pocket. It's unsafe, and if somebody slips and falls on that because there (are) cards, it's just not right," Sisolak said.
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