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City Council Meeting: September 24, 2024 Santa Monica, California
ORDINANCE NUMBER 2789 (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
AMENDING MUNICIPAL CODE SECTION 4.08.095 PROHIBITION AGAINST
CAMPING IN PUBLIC PLACES
WHEREAS, in 2022, the City of Santa Monica amended Municipal Code Section
4.08.095 to comply with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling in Johnson v. City of
Grants Pass, which required public entities to allow the homeless to sleep on public
property, with certain conditions and exceptions; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Supreme Court recently reversed the Ninth Circuit ruling, and
held that regulation of sleeping/camping in public should largely be deferred to local
jurisdictions; and
WHEREAS, the Council desires to amend the Municipal Code to repeal the
amendments made in 2022.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA
DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 4.08.095 of the Santa Monica Municipal Code is hereby
amended as follows:
4.08.095 Prohibition against camping in public places.
(a) No person shall camp in a prohibited public place.
(b) For the purpose of this Section:
(1) “Camp” means to erect, maintain, or occupy a camp facility for the purpose
of living accommodations.
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(2) “Camp facility” means the use of, settling, fixing in place, setting up,
locating, or leaving behind in a prohibited public place any or a combination of
the following: tents, huts, other temporary physical shelters, cots, beds,
sleeping bags, hammocks, or bedrolls.
(3) “Prohibited public place” means any of the following: the public parks listed
in Section 4.55.020, public beaches, the Santa Monica Municipal Pier, public
streets, public alleyways, public parking lots, public passageways, public
rights-of-way, publicly-owned landscaped areas or greenbelts, public
educational institutions including properties owned by the Santa Monica-Malibu
Unified School District or Santa Monica College, or other government-owned
properties located within the City of Santa Monica.
(c) The City Council may, by majority vote, establish one or more specified
camping areas. Such camping areas, if any, may be located in prohibited public
places, except that such camping areas shall not be located within public parks.
SECTION 2. Any provision of the Santa Monica Municipal Code or appendices
thereto inconsistent with the provisions of this Ordinance, to the extent of such
inconsistencies and no further, are hereby repealed or modified to that extent necessary
to effect the provisions of this Ordinance.
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this
Ordinance is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by a decision of any
court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining
portions of this Ordinance. The City Council hereby declares that it would have passed
this Ordinance and each and every section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase not
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declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance
would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 4. The Mayor shall sign and the City Clerk shall attest to the passage of
this Ordinance. The City Clerk shall cause the same to be published once in the official
newspaper within 15 days after its adoption. This Ordinance shall become effective 30
days from its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
_________________________
Douglas Sloan, City Attorney
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Approved and adopted this 24th day of September, 2024.
_____________________________
Phil Brock, Mayor
State of California )
County of Los Angeles ) ss.
City of Santa Monica )
I, Nikima S. Newsome, City Clerk of the City of Santa Monica, do hereby
certify that the foregoing Ordinance No. 2789 (CCS) had its introduction on
September 10, 2024, and was adopted at the Santa Monica City Council meeting
held on September 24, 2024, by the following vote:
AYES: Councilmembers de la Torre, Parra,
Mayor Brock, Mayor Pro Tem Negrete
NOES: Councilmembers Torosis, Davis, Zwick
ABSENT: None
ATTEST:
_____________________________________ _________________
Nikima S. Newsome, City Clerk Date
A summary of Ordinance No. 2789 (CCS) was duly published pursuant to
California Government Code Section 40806.
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9/27/2024