What’s at stake?

Fresno County says the law protects families. Critics say it violates the Constitution.

Three registered Fresno sex offenders are suing the county government over a new law prohibiting more than half a dozen registrants from living together in a single-family home.

The lawsuit brought by the Sacramento-based advocacy group the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, Inc. on behalf of the three anonymously named plaintiffs was filed Jan. 26 in Fresno County Superior Court.

The new law, which goes into effect Thursday, caps the number of sexual offenders to six per home, with property owners facing fines totaling over $50,000 for successive violations, a six-month jail sentence and potential litigation.

Neither Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, who cosponsored the law with Supervisor Brian Pacheco, nor the Alliance could immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.

On its website, the Alliance challenges Fresno County’s ordinance as unconstitutional on at least two grounds.

“First, the ordinance duplicates state law according to the Board of Supervisors,” the group says. “Second, state law has preempted the field of all restrictions imposed upon a registrant’s daily life and therefore local governments cannot impose additional restrictions.”

Supervisors pushed the law through over the objections of some in the public on Jan. 6, with Bredfeld remarking at the time: “I’m concerned not about, frankly, the rights of the pedophile, but the rights of law-abiding citizens to live in safe communities and not worry about their children.”

County electeds did not shy away from the fact that the new laws were designed specifically to target two homes in Old Fig Garden managed by Centers for Living, a faith-based transitional living provider that houses some sex offenders. In early January, the center said it had nearly 40 residents.

The law, supervisors have confirmed, applies only to single-family homes and does not apply to apartment complexes.

First reported by GV Wire, the lawsuit names as defendants Fresno County and Sheriff John Zanoni.

The group is asking the Fresno courts to block the county from enforcing the law and to declare it unconstitutional.

A hearing is scheduled for July 1.

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