Hawaii County, HI Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)
Key Facts
- Governing section
- HCC § 15-30(g)
- Exception
- backcountry, wilderness, or remote park areas
- Companion rule
- comfort-station misuse banned, §15-30(f)
- Enforcing agency
- Parks Dept. and Hawai'i Police Dept.
- Max penalty
- $1,000 fine or 30 days jail (§15-7)
Summary
Hawai'i County bans urinating or defecating anywhere in a county park except at a restroom or comfort station provided for that purpose, under HCC §15-30(g). The one carve-out is backcountry, wilderness, or other remote park areas without facilities; everywhere else, including developed beach parks and picnic grounds, the ban applies in full.
(f) Depositing any body waste in or on any portion of any comfort station or other public structure except into fixtures provided for that purpose is prohibited. Placing any bottle, can, cloth, rag, metal, wood, or stone substances in any of the plumbing fixtures in such station or structure is prohibited. All comfort stations shall be used in a clean, sanitary, and orderly manner. (g) Urinating or defecating other than at the place provided therefor is prohibited, except in backcountry, wilderness, or other remote areas.
Full Breakdown
HCC §15-30 is the parks chapter's sanitation article, and subsection (g) is its bathroom rule: urinating or defecating anywhere other than "the place provided therefor" is banned, with one exception for backcountry, wilderness, or other remote park areas where no facilities exist. In a developed park, a beach park, a picnic ground, or a campground with a comfort station, the ban applies without exception. The subsection sits next to §15-30(f), which separately bans depositing body waste or foreign objects anywhere in a comfort station except into the fixtures built for that purpose, and requires every comfort station to be kept clean, sanitary, and orderly.
The same sanitation article bans dumping refuse from a trailer or vehicle except at provided receptacles (subsection (b)), polluting any watershed or drinking-water source (subsection (d)), and using county trash cans for household or commercial garbage hauled in from private property (subsection (h)). All of it is enforced by the Department of Parks and Recreation and the Hawai'i Police Department, and a violation of any part of Chapter 15, including §15-30(g), carries the same penalty set out in §15-7.
Violations & Fines
Urinating or defecating outside a designated restroom in a developed county park, where §15-30(g)'s backcountry exception does not apply, is punishable under the chapter's general penalty, §15-7: a fine up to $1,000, imprisonment up to thirty days, or both, plus the county's cost of any cleanup.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it illegal to urinate outdoors in a Hawai'i County park?
Does the rule apply at undeveloped hiking areas?
What is the penalty for violating the park sanitation rule?
Can I be charged for misusing a park restroom itself?
Sources & Official References
Other rules in Hawaii County
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