National City, CA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Chapter 10.36 of the National City Municipal Code, Urinating or Defecating in Public, contains one prohibition. Section 10.36.010 says no person shall urinate or defecate in or upon any street, sidewalk, alley, plaza, park, beach, public building or public maintained facility, or in any place open to the public or exposed to public view. The last clause carries the reach past city-owned property: a spot on private land that passersby can see, or a private place open to the public, falls inside the rule as written.

The named public places are covered without any visibility test. A person on a sidewalk, in an alley or in a park is within the section whether or not anyone is present. The exposed-to-public-view language extends the ban to locations that are not on the list.

The only carve-out is a facility built for the purpose. The section does not apply to urination or defecation done in any restroom or other facility designed for the disposal of human waste. Nothing in the text turns on intent, on a prior warning, or on whether a restroom was nearby; the printed test is the location and the act.

Section 10.36.020 opens with the words Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 1.20.010, so the chapter sets its own penalty instead of the general infraction schedule. A violation is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine of not more than one hundred dollars, or by imprisonment not to exceed thirty days, or by both. For comparison, the general misdemeanor ceiling in section 1.20.010 is a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or imprisonment not to exceed six months, so this chapter's caps sit below the city's default for misdemeanors.