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Gov. Code, § 38772 · Article 6. Nuisances

Gov. Code, § 38772

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)

(a) The legislative body of a city, county, or city and county may provide for the summary abatement of any nuisance resulting from the defacement of the property of another by graffiti or any other inscribed material at the expense of the minor or other person creating, causing, or committing the nuisance and by ordinance may make the expense of abatement of the nuisance a lien against property of the minor or other person and a personal obligation against the minor or other person pursuant to Section 38773.2 or 38773.6.

(b) The parent or guardian having custody and control of the minor shall be jointly and severally liable with the minor. The legislative body of a city, county, or city and county may make the expense of abatement of any nuisance, resulting from the defacement by a minor of the property of another by graffiti or any other inscribed material, a lien against the property of a parent or guardian, having custody and control of the minor, and a personal obligation against the parent or guardian having custody and control of the minor pursuant to Section 38773.2 or 38773.6.

(c) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the names and addresses of the parent or guardian having custody and control of the minor, if known, shall be reported by the probation officer of the county to the city clerk or other official designated by the legislative body of the city, county, or city and county in which the defaced property is located.

(d) As used in this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Expense of abatement” includes, but is not limited to, court costs, attorney’s fees, costs of removal of the graffiti or other inscribed material, costs of repair and replacement of defaced property, and the law enforcement costs incurred by the city, county, or city and county in identifying and apprehending the minor or other person.

(2) “Graffiti or other inscribed material” means any unauthorized inscription, word, figure, mark, or design that is written, marked, etched, scratched, drawn, or painted on any real or personal property.

(3) “Minor”or “other person” means a minor or other person who has confessed to, admitted to, or pled guilty or nolo contendere to a violation of Section 594, 594.3, 640.5, 640.6, or 640.7 of the Penal Code, or a minor convicted by final judgment of a violation of Section 594, 594.3, 640.5, 640.6, or 640.7 of the Penal Code, or a minor declared a ward of the Juvenile Court pursuant to Section 602 of the Welfare and Institutions Code by reason of the commission of an act prohibited by Section 594, 594.3, 640.5, 640.6, or 640.7 of the Penal Code.

Notes and commentary — not statutory text

History

Amended by Stats. 2000, Ch. 58, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2001.

Source of truth

Edition
As published in the Legislative Counsel's database, tables dated October 18, 2026 (pubinfo_2025.zip)
Official file
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?lawCode=GOV&sectionNum=38772.
Text hash
sha256 06841a2b60af3bbebcf2f093df3a1d3491cc5c34d45a56fec1c4834e6ebc8b9d
Composed by
compose_ca.py 2026-10-22: the Legislative Counsel's CAML content files read by a tokenizer (caml_readers.reader_a); an independent xml.etree reading (caml_readers.reader_b) agrees on every section

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