Salt Lake County, UT Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Salt Lake County folds public urination into its public indecency ordinance rather than treating it as a standalone offense. 010(A) lists the acts that qualify, including sexual intercourse, deviate sexual conduct, lewd exposure done with intent to arouse, and lewd fondling of another person, and subsection (A)(5) adds an exposure of the body for the purpose of urinating in any place other than a restroom facility. Two features of the text matter in practice. First, the urination prong carries no sexual intent element. Unlike the lewd exposure prong, which requires intent to arouse or satisfy sexual desire, (A)(5) asks only whether the exposure was for the purpose of urinating somewhere other than a restroom.

Second, the ordinance defines public place by visibility, not by who owns the ground. Subsection (B) says a public place, for purposes of this section, is any place where the conduct may reasonably be expected to be viewed by others. The test is whether other people could reasonably be expected to see the act, so a spot on private land that is open to view can still qualify, while the definition leaves out places where no one could reasonably be expected to look. The provision traces to Ordinance 1473, adopted in 2001, and prior county code § 16-23-3.