{"id":162567,"date":"2026-02-03T22:23:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:23:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/162567\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T22:23:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:23:09","slug":"lawsuit-seeks-to-block-fresno-county-sex-offender-housing-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/162567\/","title":{"rendered":"Lawsuit seeks to block Fresno County sex offender housing law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\t\t\t\t\tWhat&#8217;s at stake?<\/p>\n<p>Fresno County says the law protects families. Critics say it violates the Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>Three registered Fresno sex offenders are suing the county government over a new law prohibiting more than half a dozen registrants <a href=\"https:\/\/fresnoland.org\/2026\/01\/06\/why-it-just-got-harder-for-sex-offenders-in-fresno-county\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">from living together in a single-family home<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/WPUptDys4hk?t=3947s\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The new law<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n<p>Neither Fresno County Supervisor Garry Bredefeld, who cosponsored the law with Supervisor Brian Pacheco, nor the Alliance could immediately be reached for comment Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>On its website, the Alliance challenges Fresno County\u2019s ordinance as unconstitutional on at least two grounds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFirst, the ordinance duplicates state law according to the Board of Supervisors,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/all4consolaws.org\/2026\/01\/ca-new-lawsuit-challenges-fresno-county-ordinance\/#:~:text=First%2C%20the%20ordinance%20duplicates%20state%20law%20according%20to%20the%20Board%20of%20Supervisors.%C2%A0%20Second%2C%20state%20law%20has%20preempted%20the%20field%20of%20all%20restrictions%20imposed%20upon%20a%20registrant%E2%80%99s%20daily%20life%20and%20therefore%20local%20governments%20cannot%20impose%20additional%20restrictions.\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the group says<\/a>. \u201cSecond, state law has preempted the field of all restrictions imposed upon a registrant\u2019s daily life and therefore local governments cannot impose additional restrictions.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Supervisors pushed the law through over the objections of some in the public on Jan. 6, with Bredfeld remarking at the time: \u201cI\u2019m 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.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>The law, supervisors have confirmed, applies only to single-family homes and does not apply to apartment complexes.<\/p>\n<p>First reported by GV Wire, the lawsuit names as defendants Fresno County and Sheriff John Zanoni.<\/p>\n<p>The group is asking the Fresno courts to block the county from enforcing the law and to declare it unconstitutional.<\/p>\n<p>A hearing is scheduled for July 1.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"What&#8217;s at stake? Fresno County says the law protects families. Critics say it violates the Constitution. Three registered&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":86789,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[112,114,113],"class_list":{"0":"post-162567","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\/162567","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=162567"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162567\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/86789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162567"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162567"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162567"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}