1 City Council Meeting: July 8, 2025 Santa Monica, California ORDINANCE NUMBER _________ (CCS)
(City Council Series)
AN EMERGENCY ORDINANCE OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA AMENDING SECTION 4.08.780 OF THE SANTA MONICA
MUNICIPAL CODE RELATING TO RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF SPECIFIED ITEMS
DURING COMMUNITY EVENTS AND PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES IN THE INTEREST OF
PRESERVING PUBLIC PEACE, HEALTH, AND SAFETY
WHEREAS, the City Council supports peaceful protests, public assemblies, and community events, and the rights of individuals under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution to engage in expressive activities in public forums such as the City’s sidewalks, streets, and public parks; and
WHEREAS, the City Council seeks to promote the safety and welfare of those who engage in peaceful protests, public assemblies, and community events, as well as the safety and welfare of City officials, City residents, City businesses, and City visitors who encounter and are affected by such peaceful protests, public assemblies, and community events; and
WHEREAS, the City Council is mindful of the legal principles relating to regulation of activity in public forums such as the City’s sidewalks, streets, and public parks and does not intend by this ordinance to unconstitutionally suppress or infringe expressive activities protected by the First Amendment of the United States Constitution or the Liberty of Speech Clause of the California Constitution, but instead is enacting reasonable content-neutral time, place, and manner regulations that address the need to prevent violent, dangerous, and hazardous situations from arising during peaceful protests, public 2 assemblies, and community events, and so promote the public safety and welfare of those engaging in such peaceful protests, public assemblies, and community events, as well as those City residents, City businesses, and City visitors who encounter and are affected by such peaceful protests, public assemblies, and community events; and WHEREAS, it is the intent of the City Council in issuing this ordinance to ensure that protests, public assemblies, and community events are conducted in ways that permit those assembling to engage in expressive activities intended to convey their message to the public while at the same time ensuring that the protests, public assemblies, and community events are peaceful and safe; and
WHEREAS, there is an increasing concern about violence at public events and about violent clashes at such events between those with opposing views, and numerous public protests, demonstrations, and rallies conducted throughout the nation, but particularly in the Los Angeles area, which have erupted in violence between demonstrators and counterdemonstrators and violence against law enforcement personnel, innocent bystanders, and businesses, with those committing violent acts altering their tactics and items used to injure, resist compliance with law enforcement, and damage property.
NOW, THEREFORE, THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF SANTA MONICA DOES HEREBY ORDAIN AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.08.780 is hereby amended to read as follows:
3 4.08.780. RESTRICTIONS ON USE OF SPECIFIED ITEMS DURING COMMUNITY EVENTS AND PUBLIC ASSEMBLIES.
(a) The following terms as used in this Section have the following meanings:
(1) “Community event” means any activity, assembly, gathering, meeting, event, protest, counter-protest, demonstration, picket line, parade, rally, or march for which a permit is required under Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.040 and any administrative regulations promulgated thereunder.
(2) “Community events committee” means the community events committee, as defined by Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.020. (3) “Public assembly” means any activity, assembly, gathering, meeting, event, protest, counter-protest, demonstration, picket line, parade, rally, or march for which a permit is not required under Santa Monica Municipal Code Section 4.68.040 and any administrative regulations promulgated thereunder.
(b) While participating in or being present at any community event or public assembly, no person shall use, carry, or possess any of the following items or articles:
(1) If affixed to and being used to support a sign, poster, banner, placard, notice, puppet, or other expressive display, any length of lumber, wood, wood lath, or plastic pipe, whether hollow or solid, if that object is sharpened on either end or has affixed to either end any sharpened item of any material;
(2) If not affixed to and being used to support a sign, poster, banner, placard, notice, puppet, or other expressive display: (A) any length of lumber, wood, or wood lath, excluding only a pencil or other wooden writing instrument; and (B) any length of plastic 4 pipe, whether hollow or solid, excluding only a plastic pen or other plastic writing instrument;
(3) Any length of metal pipe, whether hollow or solid, excluding only a metal pen or other metal writing instrument;
(4) Any baseball or softball bat, regardless of composition or size; (5) Any aerosol spray, including paint, tear gas, mace, pepper spray, smoke canister, or bear repellent;
(6) Any projectile launcher or other device, such as a catapult or wrist rocket, that is commonly used for the purpose of launching, hurling, or throwing any object, liquid, material, or other substance, whether through force of air pressure, spring action, or any other mechanism;
(7) Any chain greater than twenty inches in length or greater than one-quarter inch in diameter;
(8) Any knives, daggers, swords, sabers, or other bladed devise, axes, axe handles, hatchets, billy clubs, ice picks, razor blades, nunchucks or other martial arts weapons of any kind, box cutters, pellet or BB guns, improvised explosive devices (IEDs), dynamite, conducted electrical weapons (CEWs), including, but not limited to, tasers or stun guns, metal/composite/wooden knuckles, or toy or replica firearms; (9) Any container, including, but not limited to, balloons, bottles, water cannons, super-soakers, or toy or replica firearms, filled with any flammable, biohazard, or other noxious matter that is injurious, or nauseous, sickening, or irritating to any of the senses; (10) Any glass bottles or metal containers, whether empty or filled; 5 (11) Any open flame torches, lanterns, or other devices that utilize combustible materials such as gasoline, kerosene, propane, other fuel sources; (12) Any shields made of metal, wood, hard plastic, or any combination thereof; (13) Any bricks, rocks, pieces of asphalt or concrete, metal pellets, or ball bearings; (14) Any gas masks or similar breathing devices;
(15) Any impact-resistant helmet, including, but not limited to, motorcycle or bicycle helmets (unless being worn while riding a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle), sports helmets, or ballistic helmets;
(16) Any laser pointers or laser-style devices emitting any color beam, milliwatt output level, intensity class level or any visibility level, including infrared, or nonvisible; (17) Any umbrellas in the absence of rain; during any rainy weather, an umbrella shall not exceed 16 inches in its longest dimension when fully collapsed and shall have a blunt end;
(18) Any professionally manufactured or personally fabricated equipment or clothing designed to be bullet-resistant, fragment-resistant, stab-resistant, or impactresistant, including, but not limited to, riot control gear, sports equipment, bullet-resistant vests, flak jackets, or stab-resistant vests; and
(19) Load-bearing or similar tactical vests commonly used by law enforcement or military personnel and designed to carry weapons, tactical equipment, or armor plates. (20) Any hammers, mallets, frozen liquid bottles, leaf blowers, traffic cones, or Aframe barricades. 6 (c) Any person violating subsection (b) shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, which shall be punishable by a fine not exceeding five hundred dollars, by imprisonment in the County Jail for a period not exceeding six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment. (d) When feasible, excluding exigent circumstances, a warning shall be issued before enforcement of subsection (b). Such warning shall be sufficient if provided orally, by posting sings, or by amplified announcement.
(e) Law enforcement personnel, firefighting personnel, emergency health care providers, and employees, agents, or representatives of the City shall be exempt from the provisions of subsection (b) when engaged in official business of or on behalf of the City. (f) Nothing in this Section shall prohibit a person from carrying a cane or using a walker or other similar device necessary for providing mobility so that the person may participate in a community event or public assembly.
(g) Nothing in this section shall prohibit the imposition of specific conditions for activities expressly authorized under a permit for a community event issued pursuant to Chapter 4.68 of this Code or prohibit the modification of the restrictions in subsection (b) for such permits issued pursuant to Chapter 4.68 of this Code upon a finding by the community events committee that such modifications will not impair or threaten public safety.
(h) This Section is not intended to violate and shall not be applied or enforce in a manner that violates the United States or California Constitutions and applicable State or Federal statutes.
SECTION 2. 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 7 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 declared invalid or unconstitutional without regard to whether any portion of the ordinance would be subsequently declared invalid or unconstitutional.
SECTION 3. 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. Pursuant to Sections 615 and 619 of the City Charter, for reasons stated in the above recitals, the City Council declares this ordinance to be necessary as an emergency measure for preserving the public peace, health, and safety, with the result that this ordinance shall be introduced and adopted at the same meeting, shall become effective immediately upon its adoption.
APPROVED AS TO FORM:
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Douglas Sloan, City Attorney