Sacramento County considers fines up to $10,000 for violating COVID health orders

The Sacramento County Board of Supervisors will consider an ordinance Tuesday that would authorize financial penalties for residents and businesses that violate public health orders in place to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The proposed ordinance would give broad discretion to county code and health enforcement officers, as well as law enforcement and the director of emergency services, to fine businesses between $250 and $10,000 if they’re found in violation of the health orders. The penalty for non-commercial citations would range between $25 and $500.

The intended target is a “small but increasing number of businesses and activities” that have disregarded the public health orders. The amount would be based on “the gravity of the public health risk posed by the violation,” according to the proposed ordinance.

The ordinance outlines six factors the enforcement officer would consider when issuing a citation, including whether a person or business has been counseled before. They would also consider whether the party has been cited before.

If a violation can be corrected, the county could allow a grace period of one to three days.

The ordinance comes as the Sacramento region faces a strict stay-at-home order if its hospital intensive care units drop below 15% capacity. The Sacramento region had 22% capacity left in its intensive care units as of Thursday, but hospital admissions have been climbing. One projection by the Newsom administration shows Sacramento ICUs exceeding capacity by Christmas Eve.

Ensuring compliance with social distancing and other COVID-19 prevention measures has been an obstacle for Sacramento County without the means to enforce the laws. Sheriff Scott Jones has repeatedly said he will not deploy officers to enforce the rules and he restated his position in a statement Friday, arguing that the agency does not have adequate staff.

“The primary reason is practical — we don’t have the staffing,” Jones said. “We still do all the same types of things we have always done, and we don’t have additional time or staffing to take on more.”

Jones, who recently contracted COVID-19 himself, also seemed to doubt whether it was possible for deputies to fairly judge whether someone is in violation of one of the public health orders.

“I am going to encourage folks to continue to call us when they need us,” he said, “and assure them that we will show up and help in whatever way we can to make the situation better, not worse.”

This story was originally published December 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.