Corpus Christi, TX Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Sec. 33-15 of the Code of Ordinances provides that a person commits an offense if he or she urinates and/or defecates "[i]n or on a public street, alley, sidewalk, yard, park, building, structure, plaza, utility easement or right-of-way, or other public place" or "[i]n public view," meaning the offense reaches both public property generally and any location, public or private, where the act is visible to others. The ordinance was adopted by Ord. No. 027497, § 1, on November 20, 2007, and sits in Chapter 33, Article I of the code alongside other public-order provisions such as loitering for prostitution (Sec.

33-12) and the city's parking-lot curfew (Sec. 33-13). The only statutory defense is being inside a restroom or a portable structure designated as a restroom at the time of the act; subsection (b) labels this an affirmative defense, meaning the burden falls on the person charged to raise and establish it at trial rather than on the city to disprove it in its case. The ordinance does not carve out exceptions for medical necessity, homelessness, or special events, so its plain text applies uniformly across the city regardless of circumstance.

Enforcement is handled the same as other Class C misdemeanor offenses under the code, through citation by Corpus Christi police officers, with prosecution proceeding in municipal court.