Thumbs up to Janice Bellucci!

https://floridaactioncommittee.org/ca-fresno-county-to-pay-out-in-settlement-over-law-restricting-sex-offender-housing/

Janice Bellucci can add another check to the victory column as Fresno California will be paying out an undisclosed amount in a settlement to the Alliance for Constitutional Sex Offense Laws (ACSOL) attorney who sued them over their residency restriction.

In addition to the settlement Fresno has to pay out, is the more important win – they repealed their sex offender residency restriction. Even though the state determined years ago that such laws were unconstitutional, several municipalities chose to keep the law on their books, presumably for political reasons. Apparently, they are not even currently enforcing it!

Taking that stance has cost them in the form of paying Janice’s attorneys fees, which knowing Janice will be rolled over to fund another challenge!

A side note: these residency restrictions had been declared unconstitutional by the California Supreme Court in 2015 and a 2011 management board that studied them determined they are ineffective and proximity has no correlation to re-offense. The fact that some cities have been digging in their heels despite the clear knowledge that they will get themselves sued, lose and wind up paying out tens of thousands in fees is indicative of the fact that legislators are unwilling to risk political standing despite taking action that is unconstitutional, known to be contrary to empirical data and that will cost their taxpayers money.