Restrictions placed on Herndon's day laborers and all other solicitors — from cheerleaders promoting a car wash to people begging for change — would be loosened if a proposed amendment makes it through the city council.

The amendment would allow people to solicit from sidewalks, but not in the streets or medians. The present law, passed in June, restricts all solicitation along major thoroughfares and their accompanying pedestrian pathways.

The amendment in favor of more leniency could shield Herndon from the threat of a lawsuit from immigration advocates, including the Arlington-based Virginia New Majority. The law as written, they said, quashes free speech and has the intent of discriminating against the mostly Hispanic laborers seeking day-to-day employment.

The council will take up the issue at a public hearing scheduled for Feb. 8 at 7 p.m.