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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD 786UORDINANCE NO. 786U AN URGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY OF PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, ADDING CHAPTER X TO TITLE 9 (COMMENCING WITH SECTION 9.70) OF THE PALM DESERT MUNICIPAL CODE RE THE PROTECTION OF THE PEACE AND SECURITY OF MEDICAL FACILITIES AND THE WELL-BEING, TRANQUILITY AND PRIVACY OF PERSONAL RESIDENCES. WHEREAS, throughout the Nation, medical facilities have in recent years become linked to a variety of highly emotional social issues; and WHEREAS, although vigorous public debate and discussion of all such issues should be fostered, any activity, to the extent that it is both directed at and substantially threatens or violates the peace and security of a medical facility by threatening to interfere or actually interfering with the normal operations of such facility, does not constitute a peaceable activity of citizens or peaceable expression; and WHEREAS, there is a paramount public interest in both assuring an absence of willful activity that interferes with the expeditious and efficient delivery of health care, and protecting the safety and security of health care providers and clients of medical facilities; and WHEREAS, the Council f inds that existing laws are not adequate to protect the peace and security of medical facilities; WHEREAS, throughout the Nation, the private residences of targeted individuals have increasingly become the sites of demonstrative activities linked to a variety of highly emotional issues; and WHEREAS, although vigorous public debate and discussion of all such issues should be fostered, any activity that is both directed at a targeted individual's personal residence and substantially threatens or violates the well-being, tranquility and privacy of any personal residence does not constitute a peaceable activity or expression; and WHEREAS, there is a compelling public interest in assuring that citizens of the City of Palm Desert enjoy in their personal residences the feeling of well-being, tranquility and privacy; and WHEREAS, the Council finds that existing laws are not adequate to protect the well-being, tranquility and privacy of individuals' homes; and DSP68534 WHEREAS, in enacting this Ordinance will (1) prohibit persons from intentionally interfering with the normal operations of a medical facility, (2) enable the police to order and enforce the immediate dispersal of any congregation that the police reasonably determine to be both directed at a medical facility and constituting a threat to the peace and security of the medical facility as measured by the normal operations of such facility, and (3) to prohibit any parading, picketing or otherwise demonstrating in a manner that is both focused at the personal residence of any targeted individual and takes place before or substantially about such residence; and WHEREAS, this Ordinance is enacted to appropriate criminal sanctions against (1) any person who violates this Ordinance by intentionally interfering with the normal operations of a medical facility, (2) any person who refuses to disperse from a nonpeaceable congregation directed at a medical facility after having been ordered to do so by the police, and (3) any person who violates this Ordinance by engaging in any picketing, parading or demonstrating at or about any targeted personal residence; WHEREAS, this Ordinance imposes reasonable time, place and manner restrictions on individuals' activities only to the extent substantially necessary to protect the City's interests in the peace and security of medical facilities and the well-being, tranquility and privacy of individuals' homes; WHEREAS, the immediate protection of medical facilities and its clients and individuals' homes is necessary to prevent interference with the expedient delivery of medical facilities and to protect the peace and tranquility of individuals' homes and is now being threatened; and WHEREAS, information exists that at least one organization has targeted the Palm Desert area for demonstrations in the summer of 1995, which demonstrations, without adequate regulations as set forth in this Ordinance, could threaten the peace and security of medical facilities and individuals' homes, thereby requiring immediate action; NOW, THEREFORE, the City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California, does hereby ordain as follows: Section 1. Title 9 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code is hereby amended by adding thereto Chapter X, commencing with Section 9.70, said new Chapter to read: DSP68534 -2 - CHAPTER Y PROTECTION OF PEACE AND SECURITY AT MEDICAL FACILITIES Section 9.70,010. Peace and Security Protection. (a) Definitions. Notwithstanding any other definitions of the words defined herein, the words defined herein shall have the following meanings for the purposes of this Ordinance: (1) "Appurtenant parking facilities" shall mean 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. (2) "Client of a medical facility" shall mean 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. (3) "Congregation" shall mean any assembly, for the purposes of parading, patrolling or otherwise demonstrating, of three or more individuals. (4) "Connecting pedestrian access" shall mean any sidewalk or street crosswalk directly connecting a medical facility to its appurtenant parking facilities. (5) "Health care provider" shall mean 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 facilitate the delivery of medical services at the invitation of the health care providers responsible for operating the medical facility. (6) "Medical facility" shall mean 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. OSP68534 - 3 - (7) "Medical services" shall mean 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. (8) "Peace or security" shall mean 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. (9) "Person" shall mean any individual, organization or association. (b) Prohibition Against Intentional Interference with the Normal Operations of a Medical Facility. 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. Nothing in this subsection shall prohibit any peaceful expressive conduct, including protesting, 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. (c) Police Authority To Order Dispersal of Violative Congregation. The Riverside County Sheriff's Department and/or the City's Police Department are hereby authorized to order the immediate dispersal of DSP68534 - 4 - 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 affects 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. Any order to disperse issued by police pursuant to this subsection shall include a statement indicating substantially each of the following: (1) That the congregation has threatened or violated the peace of security of 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 50 feet of (1) the medical facility, (2) its appurtenant parking facilities; and (3) 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. (d) Failure to Disperse or Subsequently Reassembling Following an Order from the Police to Disperse. Any person who is part of any congregation acting within 50 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 DSP68534 -5- shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. In addition, any individual members of that congregation, or any other persons willfully 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. (e) Prohibition Against Targeted Demonstrations Focused Upon and At or About a Private Residence. 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 of Palm Desert, and (2) takes place within one hundred (100) feet of such private residence shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. Except as specified herein, nothing in this subsection shall prohibit generally the peaceful picketing or distributing pamphlets, going door-to-door, alone or in groups, in residential neighborhoods. (f) Penalties for Violation; Misdemeanor. Any person convicted of willfully violating subsection (b) or (d) of Section 9.70.010 of the Palm Desert Municipal Code is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by a fine not to exceed $1,000 and/or shall be sentenced to imprisonment in the county jail for a period not to exceed six months. (g) Coexistence with Injunctive Relief for Specific Deprivations of Protected Rights. Nothing herein 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. (h) Severability of Provisions. If any severable provision or provisions of this Ordinance or any application thereof is held invalid, that invalidity shall not DSP68534 -6- .• affect other provisions or applications of the Ordinance that can be given effect notwithstanding such invalidity. (i) URGENCY CLAUSE. The City Council finds and declares that this Ordinance is required for the immediate protection of the public peace, health and safety. This Ordinance will prevent interferences with the operations of medical facilities, assure the efficient and expedient delivery of medical services to persons seeking treatment, and protect the well-being, tranquility and privacy of individuals in their personal residences. This Ordinance is necessary to assure the efficient and expedient delivery of medical services and protect the peace and security of medical facilities and to safeguard the peace and privacy of individuals' homes. Therefore, this Ordinance shall become effective upon publication pursuant to the California Government Code. Section 2. The City Clerk shall certify to the passage and adoption of this Ordinance and the same shall be in full force and effect upon its adoption. PASSED, APPROVED and ADOPTED this28th day of September 1995, by the City Council of the City of Palm Desert, California by the following vote, to wit: AYES: BENSON, KELLY, SNYDER, SPIEGEL, CRITES NOES: NONE ABSENT: NONE ABSTAIN: NONE -ATTEST: L /i j 6 SHEILA GILLIGAN C' City of Palm Desert y Clerk , California BUFORD CRITES, Mayor Cify of Palm Desert, Califor-nia DSP68534 — % —