Skagit County, WA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

010 flatly bars urinating or defecating in a public place, or in a place exposed to the view of the public, anywhere in unincorporated Skagit County. The section specifically forecloses the defense that no one actually witnessed the act, stating that whether the conduct was not actually viewed by another is not a defense, so exposure to potential public view is enough to violate the chapter even in an isolated moment. The only carve-out in the ordinance is for acts committed inside a public or private restroom facility, which the chapter exempts outright.

Adopted by Ordinance 12218 in 1989, the chapter sits in Title 9 (Public Peace, Safety and Morals) alongside the county's noise, fireworks and outdoor-assembly rules, and like those chapters it applies to the unincorporated area outside Mount Vernon, Anacortes, Burlington, Sedro-Woolley, La Conner, Concrete, Hamilton and Lyman, each of which enforces its own municipal code on the subject. 020 sets the violation as a misdemeanor without stating a separate dollar fine or jail term in the chapter itself, so sentencing on conviction follows the general Washington misdemeanor framework applied through Skagit County District Court.

The Skagit County Sheriff's Office is the enforcing agency for unincorporated-area violations, and a conviction results in a criminal record rather than a mere civil infraction.