New Fresno regulations on smoke shops will go into effect on Thursday after a federal judge declined to grant a temporary restraining order.

The California Smoke Shops Association asked Judge Kirk Sherriff on Tuesday to prevent the regulations from taking place. Skeptical of the argument that the regulations presented immediate irreparable harm, Sherriff said no.

Instead, Sherriff, a Biden appointee, scheduled a preliminary injunction hearing for July 25.

Passed by the Fresno City Council in April, the new regulations give smoke shops operating in Fresno 30 days to comply with stiffer standards starting Thursday. By July 5, smoke shops must do things like keep the outside of their shops clean and install color video monitoring systems.

Sherriff said those tasks would not be onerous and he did not see a need to immediately pause the law.

“(This is) not an emergency situation here,” Sherriff told attorney Shane Smith, representing CSSA. “No one is going out of business between now and July 5.”

While the ruling allows for the regulations to move forward, it is not the final word. The preliminary injunction hearing is similar to a TRO, but allows more time for the two sides to prepare arguments. If granted, the TRO could also pause the ordinance until a full hearing in the fall.

“We got what we wanted,” said Smith, who is a Merced city councilmember. “We’re confident in our claims and our causes of action. We look forward to more time and more fully briefing those issues for the court.”

City Makes Winning Arguments For Now

Sherriff’s ruling echoed arguments made by the city.

In a brief, City Attorney Andrew Janz argued that the association’s request was premature. Janz also appeared in court, along with Anthony Taylor, an outside attorney representing the city.

“Based on the Court’s ruling, Code Enforcement will work in conjunction with the Planning Department to quickly begin implementing the smoke shop ordinance,” Janz said in a statement after the ruling.

The ordinance also limits the number of smoke shops to 49, seven per the seven city council districts. CSSA argues that more than 30 shops would have to close. That would be an illegal government taking, in violation of the U.S. Constitution, their attorney said in court filings.

Shops that do not receive a permit through a lottery would have 18 months to close operations, also limiting the need for immediate court action, Janz argued.

Permits to operate would be distributed by lottery.

What would association members do if they don’t win the lottery?

“I think individual members will have to make up their own minds based upon how this ordinance goes into effect,” Smith said. “You can just do the math. There’s going be about 33 different smoke shops that are going to be forced out of business.”