{"id":162238,"date":"2026-02-03T18:16:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T18:16:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/162238\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T18:16:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T18:16:25","slug":"group-sues-fresno-county-over-sex-offender-housing-ordinance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/162238\/","title":{"rendered":"Group Sues Fresno County Over Sex Offender Housing Ordinance"},"content":{"rendered":"

An advocacy group is suing Fresno County over the passage of an ordinance restricting how many registered sex offenders can live at a single location.<\/p>\n

The Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws, Inc. filed the lawsuit Jan. 26<\/a> in Fresno County Superior Court, claiming the ordinance adopted Jan. 6<\/a> by the Board of Supervisors is \u201cin plain violation of the California Constitution and the jurisdictional limits on local government.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis county ordinance is preempted by state law. And it\u2019s very clear that if there\u2019s a state law regarding a certain topic, then local governments cannot, in fact, pass a different kind of law,\u201d said Janice Bellucci, the attorney for the plaintiffs and executive director of ACSOL.<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s mission, the lawsuit says, \u201cis to protect the Constitution by restoring the civil rights of more than 100,000 registrants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ordinance goes into effect Thursday.<\/p>\n

Bredefeld: Ordinance Legally Defensible<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are absolutely confident the ordinance is legally defensible and constitutional.\u201d \u2014 Supervisor Garry Bredefeld<\/p>\n

Supported by Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, the ordinance created an enforcement mechanism to limit what it says is already state law \u2014 that a single-family home with a registered sex offender can have a maximum of six beds, whether all are used by registrants or not. There are exemptions for living with relatives.<\/p>\n

Violations could lead to a misdemeanor, with fines ranging from $10,000 for a first offense to $50,000 for a third offense.<\/p>\n

Bredefeld and Supervisor Brian Pacheco carried the ordinance after hearing complaints from neighbors, particularly those living near a residential facility in the Old Fig Garden neighborhood.<\/p>\n

The ordinance only applies to unincorporated areas of Fresno County, and not within city limits like Fresno and Clovis.<\/p>\n

As of Tuesday, five offenders registered on the Megan\u2019s Law website lived in one home in the area in question, and another lived in an adjacent home. Both homes are run by Centers for Living.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe County has not been served and we have not had the opportunity to review the suit, but we are absolutely confident the ordinance is legally defensible and constitutional. This is a board that will protect its citizens and do everything appropriate and legal to ensure the safety and security of our residents,\u201d Bredefeld said.<\/p>\n

Lawsuit: Will Force Registrants to Go Homeless<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are required to register are human beings who need a place to live.\u201d \u2014 attorney Janice Bellucci<\/p>\n

The lawsuit calls the penalties \u201cdraconian and designed to force transitional living homes to either abandon their provision of housing and other services to registrants (which would leave many homeless) or go bankrupt, face criminal prosecution, and jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

The ACSOL lawsuit includes three unnamed plaintiffs who would become homeless under the ordinance.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople who are required to register are human beings who need a place to live. They need shelter. And the fact is, most people do not want to live near a sex offender, but that\u2019s because they do not understand the truth,\u201d Bellucci said.<\/p>\n

Bellucci said re-offense rates are \u201cextremely low.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople really don\u2019t have anything to worry about,\u201d Bellucci said.<\/p>\n

Plaintiffs Won\u2019t Seek an Injunction: Attorney<\/p>\n

Bredefeld, in public statements leading up to the passage of the ordinance, disagreed with the ability to rehabilitate sex offenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey ought to be on an island somewhere. Or, frankly, they belong in jail and shouldn\u2019t be released \u2014 and certainly shouldn\u2019t be released into neighborhoods with families,\u201d Bredefeld said at a Dec. 8, 2025, news conference<\/a> introducing the ordinance.<\/p>\n

Bellucci called Bredefeld \u2014 a retired psychologist \u2014 \u201cuneducated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unfortunate that he\u2019s spreading misinformation to the public,\u201d Bellucci said.<\/p>\n

Fresno County Sheriff John Zanoni is also listed as a defendant.<\/p>\n

The first hearing is set for a case management conference before Judge Maria G. Diaz on July 1. Bellucci said she will not seek an injunction before the hearing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An advocacy group is suing Fresno County over the passage of an ordinance restricting how many registered sex…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":162239,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-162238","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-fresno","8":"tag-fresno","9":"tag-fresno-headlines","10":"tag-fresno-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162238","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162238"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162238\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162239"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162238"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162238"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162238"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}