Salinas, CA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Section 21-26 of the Salinas Municipal Code, titled "Indecent exposure," states in full: "No person shall urinate, stool or make any indecent exhibition of his person, or the private parts thereof, on any street, sidewalk or public place." The provision traces to Ordinance No. 20 (NS), Section 4, one of the earliest general offense ordinances still carried in Chapter 21, "Offenses Miscellaneous." Because the section covers public urination, defecation, and indecent exposure of the body together in a single sentence, an officer can cite any of the three acts under the same code section rather than charging disorderly conduct separately.

The prohibition applies anywhere within the city that qualifies as a street, sidewalk, or public place; it is not limited to parks, downtown, or commercial corridors, and it carries no written exception for emergencies, intoxication, or lack of nearby restroom facilities. Enforcement falls to the Salinas Police Department, which can issue a citation upon observing the act in a public right-of-way or any other publicly accessible space within city limits.

Section 21-100(a) expressly lists Section 21-26 among the Chapter 21 offenses classified as infractions rather than misdemeanors, meaning a violation does not carry potential jail time and is processed through the infraction citation and fine track rather than a full criminal prosecution. The chapter's penalty structure, set by Ordinance No. 1704 (NCS), Section 11, and amended by later ordinances, separates these lower-level offenses from the chapter's misdemeanor-level provisions, which cover more serious conduct such as weapons possession in public places under Section 21-56.