Buena Park, CA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

The operative text is short but absolute: § 8.36.070 makes it unlawful to urinate or defecate in any public place, on any public street, boulevard or highway, or at any place within view of any other person who is annoyed or offended thereby. The section traces to Prior Code § 18-23 and sits in Chapter 8.36, Miscellaneous Offenses, a catch-all chapter that also bans open alcohol consumption on public streets and sidewalks, firearm discharge, air-gun and slingshot discharge, and spray-paint sales to minors. Chapter 8.36 has no penalty clause of its own, so enforcement runs through the city's general penalty scheme at § 1.04.010: any code violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to $1,000 and six months in jail unless it is charged or later prosecuted as an infraction, in which case the fine tops out at $100 for a first offense, $200 for a second within twelve months, and $500 for each further offense in that same year.

Buena Park also runs a parallel civil track: under §§ 1.04.050 through 1.04.100, a citing official (a police officer or other employee the city manager authorizes) may instead issue an administrative citation, and the recipient can contest it by depositing the fine and filing a request-for-hearing form with the finance department within twenty days, with a hearing held fifteen to sixty days later. A person who loses that hearing has twenty days to seek de novo review from the Orange County Superior Court by paying a $25 filing fee, refundable if the court rules in the resident's favor. Every day a violation continues is treated as a separate offense under § 1.04.010(B).