Sacramento County, CA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Chapter 9.78, Human Waste Disposal, dates to 1977 (SCC 303) and reaches three separate acts under § 9.78.010: urinating or defecating in a public place other than a restroom, doing so in any place open to public view even if not technically public, and doing so on the private property of another without the owner's consent. Section 9.78.020 makes any violation of the chapter a misdemeanor punished as provided in § 1.01.190, the county code's general penalty section, which sets a fine not exceeding $1,000 or imprisonment in the county jail for not more than six months, or both, and counts each day a violation continues as a separate offense.

Because the offense is charged as a misdemeanor rather than an infraction, it moves through the county's standard misdemeanor arrest process in Chapter 1.04, Notice to Appear: if the arresting officer does not take the person immediately before a magistrate, the officer prepares a written notice listing the person's name and address, the offense charged, and a court date at least five days later. The arrested person is released after signing a written promise to appear, and willfully violating that promise is itself a separate misdemeanor under § 1.04.070, regardless of how the original citation is resolved.

No exemption in Chapter 9.78 carves out restrooms that are closed, unavailable, or under maintenance, and consent from the property owner is the only listed defense to the private-property branch of the offense.