El Dorado County, CA Homelessness & Encampment Rules: Sit-Lie Rules (2026)

Section 9.55.050, adopted January 28, 2025 by Ordinance No. 5221 as part of the County's rewritten camping and public-space chapter, splits the restriction in two. Subsection A bars sleeping on public property entirely, and Section 9.55.040 defines "public property" to include "streets, sidewalks, alleys, improved or unimproved land, parks, or trail facilities," plus land within 100 feet of the high-water mark of a County-managed lake or waterway. Three exceptions apply: children five years old or younger, a person camping under an authorization recognized elsewhere in the Code, including the park camping process at Section 9.46.220 or the emergency and resolution authorizations of Section 9.55.060, and an on-duty employee responsible for that property who sleeps in a vehicle or on-site during a recognized meal or rest break with employer permission.

Subsection B is broader in location but narrower in trigger: it reaches sitting, lying or sleeping on public sidewalks, streets or alleyways, or in any pedestrian or vehicle entrance abutting a sidewalk, but only when the conduct obstructs vehicular or pedestrian passage, framed by the ordinance as a matter of individual and public safety. Section 9.55.030 gives enforcement authority to any law enforcement officer, and Section 9.55.110 makes any violation of the chapter a misdemeanor punishable under the general penalty schedule of Chapter 1.24. Section 9.55.020 limits the chapter countywide to the unincorporated territory and exempts conduct otherwise authorized by County ordinance or state or federal law.