Kauai County, HI Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Article 21 of Chapter 22, adopted by Ordinance No. 914 on October 19, 2011, targets the grounds around the county's own seat of government in Lihu'e: the parking lots and grounds adjacent to the Historic County Building, the County Annex and the Lihu'e Civic Center. Section 22-21.1 defines a "portable toilet" as a temporary, portable toilet facility, and Section 22-21.2 then prohibits urinating or defecating anywhere within those boundaries unless the person uses a portable toilet or restroom. The only built-in defense is a medical condition verified by a licensed physician that prevented the person from reaching a restroom or portable toilet in time; the code does not describe how that verification must be presented to an officer or in court.

The ordinance sits in the same Article grouping as Article 20's ban on consuming or possessing opened intoxicating liquor on the identical civic-center grounds, and Article 20 authorizes the Department of Public Works and the Department of Parks and Recreation to post signage, though Article 21 does not repeat a signage clause of its own. Section 22-21.3 sets the penalty: conviction is a petty misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000, up to 30 days of imprisonment, or both. Because the prohibition is written to the specific civic-center parking lots and grounds rather than to the island generally, it does not by its terms reach county parks, beaches or streets elsewhere on Kaua'i, which fall under separate park-conduct rules enforced by the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Kaua'i Police Department.