Yucaipa, CA Public Conduct: Public Urination (2026)

Chapter 8.44 of the Yucaipa Municipal Code, adopted by Ordinance 476 in 2025, makes it unlawful to intentionally or knowingly urinate or defecate in a public place or within the public right-of-way, and on private property without the consent of the property owner, lawful occupant or person in charge. The Yucaipa City Council describes the chapter as a narrowly tailored, content-neutral prohibition that recognizes medical necessity, disability-related circumstances, true emergencies and situations in which no reasonably accessible restroom is available.

Public place is defined broadly in § 8.44.020: any area generally open to or used by the public, whether publicly or privately owned, including streets, sidewalks, alleys, plazas, parks, trails, transit facilities, parking lots or structures, doorways, building entrances, landscaped areas open to the public and the exterior grounds of commercial centers. A reasonably accessible restroom is a functioning toilet facility that is open for use, within a distance a reasonable person can reach without undue delay, and does not require payment, purchase or membership to enter.

Section 8.44.040 gives four affirmative defenses: a documented medical condition such as incontinence or ostomy, with reasonable steps taken to minimize public impact; caretaker assistance to a person with a qualifying disability; a child under five years of age or a caregiver addressing that child's needs, with prompt removal and sanitizing; and an urgent need with no reasonably accessible restroom, with the waste promptly contained, disposed of and the area sanitized. Section 8.44.030(C) adds that the chapter does not authorize exposure of the genitals or buttocks, and conduct meeting state indecent-exposure statutes can be enforced separately. Officers keep discretion under § 8.44.050(C) to issue a warning instead of a citation or to refer people to social-services resources.

Under § 8.44.060, the city can immediately abate and remediate bodily waste and recover its actual and reasonable remediation costs from a person convicted or found liable.