Fresno smoke shops lose lawsuit: enforcement delayed, but not dead

FRESNO, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – A suit against the metropolis enactment Fresno's caller fume store ordinance connected hold, but according to a Tuesday ruling, enforcement is delayed, not dead.

The ruling follows a May 19 suit wherever the California Smoke Shops Association filed a question for a impermanent restraining bid against the city, accusing the assembly of violating metropolis rules by passing the contested ordinance and rewriting "meeting minutes."

"In a stunning show of maltreatment of its ain written procedures, the Fresno City Council… passed an ordinance expressly directed astatine shuttering the doors of dozens of existing, decently licensed tiny concern owners by retroactively changing the entitlement rules," a ailment by the relation reads.

Despite pushback, a national justice ruled Tuesday against the fume shops represented by the association, uncovering that "the plaintiffs could not show immediacy oregon irrefutable harm."

This is not the archetypal clip the ordinance faced controversy.

In March, the fume store ordinance failed to person a bulk vote successful either direction. In April, the Smoke Shop Text Amendment was introduced - it received a bulk vote, but it wasn't until May 6 that it received final approval.

At the time, Councilmember Esparza described the passing of the ordinance arsenic a “long-overdue measurement toward restoring accountability and safety” successful Fresno’s neighborhoods.

While the ordinance was initially acceptable to instrumentality effect connected June 5, the suit lone temporarily slowed down its implementation. Beginning July, the ordinance volition spell into effect.

Existing businesses volition beryllium fixed an 18-month amortization play to travel into compliance with the caller rules.