Chapter 9.70

PROTECTION OF PEACE AND SECURITY AT MEDICAL FACILITIES

Notwithstanding any other definitions of the words defined herein, the words defined herein shall have the following meanings for the purposes of this chapter:

"Appurtenant parking facilities" means any parking lot or structure that is the primary and posted place for the parking of the vehicles of health care providers and members of the public using any medical facility, including any driveway apron which permits vehicular access to such parking lot or structure.

"Client of a medical facility" means any individual who utilizes or attempts to utilize the services of a medical facility and who, by reason of such actual or attempted utilization, becomes the focus or object of any unlawful interference.

"Congregation" means any assembly, for the purposes of parading, patrolling or otherwise demonstrating, of three or more individuals.

"Connecting pedestrian access" means any sidewalk or street crosswalk directly connecting a medical facility to its appurtenant parking facilities.

"Health care provider" means any individual who owns, operates, supplies, or is employed at any medical facility, whether on a permanent, temporary, occasional or incidental basis, including any volunteer who facilitates the delivery of medical services at the invitation of the health care providers responsible for operating the medical facility.

"Medical facility" means any hospital, medical clinic, medical office or other facility at which lawful, professional medical services, diagnosis and/or counseling are delivered to members of the public.

"Medical services" means any and all services related to the determination, diagnosis, monitoring or treatment of the medical condition or status of an individual, including, without limitation, any counseling, referral, diagnostic, laboratory, clinical or surgical services.

"Peace or security" means the conditions necessary to conduct the normal operations of a medical facility, taking into account: (1) the effect of activities on ingress and egress readily available to members of the public seeking medical services; (2) any noise, diversion or disturbance affecting a medical facility; and (3) any other effects on the operations that jeopardize the health and safety of the members of the public seeking medical services.

"Person" means any individual, organization or association. (Ord. 786 § 1, 1995)

• A. Any person, acting alone or in concert with others, who intentionally acts in any manner that threatens or disturbs the peace or security of any medical facility by threatening to interfere or actually interfering with: (1) the normal operations of a medical facility; (2) the lawful activities of a client of a medical facility; or (3) the lawful activities of a health care provider attempting to provide medical services shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

• B. Nothing in this section shall prohibit any peaceful expressive conduct, including protesting,

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City of Palm Desert, CA

PALM DESERT CODE

§ 9.70.020

§ 9.70.050

picketing, demonstrating, or distributing pamphlets near a medical facility so long as such conduct does not interfere with the normal operations of the medical facility. (Ord. 786 § 1, 1995)

• A. The Riverside County sheriff's department and/or the city's police department are authorized to order the immediate dispersal of any congregation that is directed at, and threatens or violates the peace or security of, a medical facility. In determining whether a congregation threatens or violates the peace or security of the medical facility, the police shall take into account the effects upon the normal operations of medical facilities, including, but not limited to: (1) the effect of activities on ingress and egress readily available to members of the public seeking medical services; (2) any noise, diversion or disturbance affecting a medical facility; and (3) any other effects on the operations that jeopardize the health and safety of the members of the public seeking medical services.

• B. Any order to disperse issued by police pursuant to this section shall include a statement indicating substantially each of the following:

  1. That the congregation has threatened or violated the peace or security or a medical facility;

  2. That the congregation is not protected by the constitutional right of the people peaceably to assemble in that its actions are unlawful; and

  3. That each member of the congregation, and all persons acting in concert with such congregation, must, under penalty of arrest and prosecution, immediately disperse and cease to congregate within fifty feet of: (a) the medical facility, (b) its appurtenant parking facilities, and (c) any connecting pedestrian access, and within four hours of such order to disperse or before such later time that the police proclaim to be necessary to protect the peace and security of the medical facility.

• (Ord. 786 § 1, 1995)

Any person who is part of any congregation acting within fifty feet of: (1) any medical facility; (2) its appurtenant parking facilities; or (3) any connecting pedestrian access who refuses to disperse after having been reasonably ordered to do so by the police shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. In addition, any individual members of that congregation, or any other persons wilfully acting in concert with such congregation, who reassembles within the same area within four hours of such order or before such later time that the police proclaim to be necessary to protect the peace and security of the medical facility, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. (Ord. 786 § 1, 1995)

• A. Any person, acting alone or in concert with others, who pickets, parades or patrols in a manner that is both: (1) focused upon the private residence or dwelling of any individual residing within the city; and (2) takes place within one hundred feet of such private

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City of Palm Desert, CA

PUBLIC PEACE, MORALS AND WELFARE

§ 9.70.050

§ 9.70.070

residence shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.

• B. Except as specified herein, nothing in this section shall prohibit generally the peaceful picketing or distributing pamphlets, going door-to-door, alone or in groups, in residential neighborhoods.

• (Ord. 786 § 1, 1995)

Any person convicted of wilfully violating Section 9.70.020 or 9.70.040 of this code is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed one thousand dollars and/or shall be sentenced to imprisonment in the County Jail for a period not to exceed six months. (Ord. 786 § 1, 1995)

Nothing in this chapter is intended to abridge, circumscribe or otherwise affect the rights of any person to pray for and obtain injunctive relief for the deprivation of protected rights. (Ord. 786 § 1, 1995)

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City of Palm Desert, CA § 9.71.010

PUBLIC PEACE, MORALS AND WELFARE

§ 9.71.040