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Solano County, CA Public Health Rules: Syringe Disposal (2026)

Few Restrictions
Compiled from the official code textEditor Martyn O'NeillLast verified September 2026

Key Facts

Program
Local Disease Prevention Demonstration Project
Pharmacy sales limit
10 or fewer needles/syringes, no prescription
Authorizing state law
Health & Safety Code § 121285 et seq.
Sunset date
December 31, 2010 (Sec. 13.1-50)
Administering agency
Solano County Public Health

Summary

Solano County's Local Disease Prevention Demonstration Project let participating pharmacies sell up to 10 hypodermic needles or syringes without a prescription and required them to hand out safe-disposal information, but Section 13.1-50 sunset the whole chapter on December 31, 2010, so the pharmacy-sales exemption in Sections 13.1-10 and 13.1-20 is no longer in force.

These county ordinances apply to unincorporated areas of Solano County. Incorporated cities within the county may have their own rules that take precedence over county-level regulations.

California Business and Professions Code sections 4145 and 4147 and Health and Safety Code section 11364 have been amended, and Health and Safety Code section 121285 et seq. has been added, to allow pharmacists participating in a local Disease Prevention Demonstration Project to sell or furnish 10 or fewer hypodermic needles or syringes at any one time to a person 18 years of age or older without a prescription during the period of January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2010. Upon implementation of the Disease Prevention Demonstration Project in Solano County, no person in Solano County who possesses 10 or fewer needles or syringes for personal use obtained from an authorized source in compliance with Health and Safety Code section 121285 shall be subject to prosecution under Health and Safety Code section 11364, subdivision (a). ... This ordinance shall expire on December 31, 2010.

View official code

Official source re-checked September 8, 2026: no newer edition of the code had been published (publisher’s edition: current through Ordinance 1868, passed April 9, 2026).

Full Breakdown

1 of the Solano County Code, adopted by Ordinance No. 1666, implemented the state-authorized Local Disease Prevention Demonstration Project under Health and Safety Code Section 121285 et seq. 1-10(d) recites that Business and Professions Code Sections 4145 and 4147 and Health and Safety Code Section 11364 were amended to let pharmacists in a qualifying county sell or furnish 10 or fewer hypodermic needles or syringes at a time to a person 18 or older without a prescription, but only during the window from January 1, 2005 through December 31, 2010.

1-10(e) then shielded anyone in Solano County who possessed 10 or fewer needles or syringes obtained from an authorized source from prosecution under Health and Safety Code Section 11364(a). 1-20 directed Solano County Public Health to run the registry: enrolling participating pharmacies, requiring each to attest that it would tell customers, in writing or orally, how to access drug treatment, how to get HIV and hepatitis C testing and treatment, and how to safely dispose of sharps waste, and giving Public Health authority to adopt implementing regulations subject to budget and staffing.

1-50 itself, last amended by the same Ordinance No. 1666, still states plainly that this ordinance shall expire on December 31, 2010. Read together, the chapter's own sunset clause means the county's local nonprescription needle-sales authorization and its associated sharps-disposal counseling mandate are no longer operative; needle and syringe purchase, possession, and disposal in the unincorporated county now fall back on general California pharmacy and medical-waste law rather than this local program.

Violations & Fines

Chapter 13.1 carried no independent penalty of its own beyond the liability shield in Section 13.1-10(e): a person holding 10 or fewer needles or syringes from an authorized source could not be prosecuted under Health and Safety Code Section 11364(a) while the program ran. Section 13.1-30 also capped the county's own liability, stating the ordinance created no obligation for which the county or its employees could be sued for money damages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Solano County's needle-exchange pharmacy program still running?
No. Section 13.1-50 states the ordinance expired on December 31, 2010. While Section 13.1-20(a)(7) references a later December 31, 2020 state termination date, the chapter's own expiration clause has never been updated, so the local nonprescription pharmacy-sales program is no longer in force.
What did the program require pharmacies to tell customers?
Under Section 13.1-20(a)(2), a participating pharmacy had to tell every customer buying nonprescription needles or syringes, in writing or orally, how to access drug treatment, how to get tested and treated for HIV and hepatitis C, and how to safely dispose of sharps waste.
Where does needle and syringe disposal fall under now?
With Chapter 13.1's local authorization sunset, disposal of needles and syringes in unincorporated Solano County is governed by general California sharps-waste and pharmacy law rather than a standalone county ordinance; no separate county-level disposal mandate currently operates in its place.

Sources & Official References

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