LA HABRA : City Atty. May Get Added Prerogative
The city attorney’s office would be given discretion to file ordinance violations either as infractions or misdemeanors under a proposal the City Council is considering.
Under the proposed law, it would be up to the city attorney to decide whether violations of ordinances such as operating a business without a license, urinating or defecating in public, littering in a park or failing to wear an approved smock while giving a massage in a massage parlor should be filed as misdemeanors or infractions.
Misdemeanors are punishable by as much as in $1,000 in fines, a year in jail or both. The penalty for an infraction is a fine of no more than $250 and no jail time.
City Council members will take final action on a new ordinance at a meeting Sept. 21. They said doing so would eliminate involvement by the district attorney’s office, reduce court and police paperwork and save the city the $75 fee it pays each time it processes a misdemeanor charge.
Currently, most misdemeanor convictions result in fines of less than $50, plus court costs, city officials said.
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