Fresno, CA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Sec. 9-2512, 'Committing Nuisance,' has stood in the Fresno Municipal Code since Ordinance 1076 and reads: 'No person shall commit a nuisance in any public place, or upon any private property, or in any place where there are other persons to be offended or annoyed thereby. ' The ban isn't limited to streets and parks, it reaches private property too, whenever someone else is present to be offended. The city folded this same conduct into its 2017 Unlawful Camping ordinance: Sec. 10-1702(c) separately declares 'It is unlawful and a public nuisance to urinate or defecate in public, as per section 9-2512 of this code,' placing the offense alongside the camping and fountain-washing bans in Article 17.

Because subsection (c) sits inside Article 17, the penalty clause that governs the rest of that article, Sec. 10-1703(a), applies to it as well: a violation is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail and/or a fine of up to $1,000 per violation, or the amount set in the Master Fee Schedule, plus the cost of transporting and storing any property the violator leaves behind. Officers may divert a violator to a mental-health, housing, or substance-abuse facility instead of jail with the person's consent, and courts are encouraged to grant diversion or probation conditioned on completing a rehabilitation program.