Your next hangover just might come with an $8,000 price tag.

That's right. The city of Newport Beach gave preliminary approval last night to an ordinance that would put the “party foul” into law there — including tickets with fines as high as $8,000 for getting down all Dennis Rodman-like. In other words, you could get a ticket just for partying too much.

Can they do that? After all, partying is a nebulous activity — some might say it's a kind of speech that should be protected. Oh, no, say Newport Beach police:

This has been tried and proven in Tucson, apparently, where the University of Arizona Wildcats have had a few wild parties.

West Newport Beach, as all you party people better know, is the U.S. capital of 4th of July shindigs. Balboa Boulevard is like Mardi Gras with frat boys and girls in bikinis. It borders on anarchy, really, which is part of the fun.

Unless you live there the rest of the year and sunk several mil into your beach-adjacent property.

And heck, if that's you, stop renting to frat boys. Because you're the one who will get a red tag and a $500 first-offense fine that will escalate to 8gs.

As our friends at OC Weekly note, if Dennis Rodman was still around Newport for this, he would have spent thousands on party foul fines.

We get the concerns of the regal, blue-blooded landholders of Ye Olde Newport. Nobody wants Animal House to unfold in their multimillion-dollar backyard.

But this ordinance feels a little scary to us. The last thing we need is another excuse for cops to act as judge and jury.

And it seems to leave a lot up for on-the-spot judgment. OC Weekly:

… All it will take is for an officer to identify what some people may consider common partying behavior: urinating in public, stumbling down the street, being excessively noisy, or getting the neighbors' kids drunk (serving alcohol to minors). In such an instance, a large red tag would be placed on the front door of the party house …

Jeez. That's like everyday up here in Venice.

Advertising disclosure: We may receive compensation for some of the links in our stories. Thank you for supporting LA Weekly and our advertisers.