Case Update: Union County Municipal Challenge
While we’re all focused on FAC v. Keefe, we can’t forget that there are a few other legal challenges taking place simultaneously.
Two registrants filed a verified complaint on August 18, 2026 challenging Union County Ordinance 2025-04, which the County Commission passed unanimously on September 15, 2025.
The ordinance goes beyond the residency restrictions common in Florida counties. It bars covered registrants from traveling through a 2,500-foot buffer around any school, daycare, park, playground, or school bus stop, with a short list of exceptions. Violations carry up to 60 days in county jail, a fine of up to $500, or both. The ordinance applies to non-residents passing through the county.
The overlapping buffer zones in Union cover nearly all of Lake Butler, the county seat. These zones include both major roads through town, the post office, the main grocery store, the Veterans Services Office, and the County Courthouse where the County Commission meets.
FAC spearheaded this complaint because Union was the first to pass an ordinance that restricted merely traveling through an exclusion zone. If we didn’t bring this challenge, every neighboring County would think it’s a great idea and pass a similar law. Eventually it would spread like cancer to your community!
The claims are: First Amendment (free speech and right to petition); Florida Sunshine Law, § 286.011(6) (unreasonably restricting public access to meetings) and § 286.0114 (denying a reasonable opportunity to be heard); Fourteenth Amendment due process (vagueness – the buffer zones are unmarked, bus stop maps are “subject to change at any time,” and the exceptions are undefined, which leaves officers with broad discretion); Ex Post Facto; and the right to intrastate travel under the Florida Constitution.
The parties filed their Uniform Case Management Report yesterday (note: the names are redacted to help protect the plaintiffs from harassment). This marks the move from the pleadings stage into scheduling and discovery. The court will issue a scheduling order accordingly. Trial is currently scheduled for January 2028 and is expected to last three days.
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I believe that Seminole County, FL still has a “presence” ordinance similar to Union County, though the buffer zone is only 1000 ft. It’s been around for a while.
You’re right to bring up Seminole. I checked, and the sheriff’s published materials describe a 1,000-foot restriction on traveling through or remaining near certain locations, separate from the residency rule. It goes back to 2005 and includes exceptions, so it isn’t simply a blanket ban on entering every restricted area.
I also found August 2025 county minutes discussing a dispute over whether a community swimming pool counted as a playground. Commissioners wanted possible clarification brought back, but that discussion alone didn’t change the ordinance.
So there is a documented presence restriction worth comparing with Union County. I haven’t yet verified every current amendment or that the two ordinances work the same way, and I don’t want to overstate that.
Sheriff’s information:
https://www.seminolesheriff.org/page.aspx?id=40
County minutes, page 9:
https://seminolecountyfl.legistar.com/View.ashx?GUID=898A80C6-C948-4919-A6D9-69A01F1399BC&ID=1278215&M=M
I think this “cancer” is caused by people who are uneducated in what it means to be a sex offender and registrant. Voters are quick to think the worst – children being hurt and deviants being villains, the worst of the worst. Find the most educated, the graduate, the “good person,” and that is what they believe. They do not know that the registry is a “one size fits all.” That many if not most sex crimes and all registration-crimes are victimless; that the justification is often trafficking while the result is federally funded entrapment and stings. While for some actresses and business women, their profession is a source on income by choice. [Moderated]. And then civic-minded council men and women, civil servants, and legislators transition that disregard, disrespect, and fear into political capital that is ignorant of the cause and effect on the lives of once again, good Americans that were punished short-term for an indiscretion in judgment. Eventually, it becomes less in terms of humanity than a form of political narrative to bolster power over the less advantaged. It is no longer a matter of safety, because an existing network of police, record keeping, and a Constitution of laws still exist.
14th amendment should be the biggest, as it’s been deemed many times by scotus, that states cannot interfere.
The judge should suspend the ordinance until such time the case is decided either way. Just my opinion, if I were a judge, as that would be the fair choice for now. And, if not challenged, no telling what they can pile on us. It is in my opinion, that we are starting to get further and further into probation type registrations.
And don’t forget, once one county pushes the envelope, another county says, “Hey that’s a good idea for us as well”.
A temporary injunction was not requested. A judge cannot sua sponte suspend the ordinance.
FAC
Well, I am just giving my opinion as I have seen cases before that were put on hold or paused until an outcome from the courts. And depending on the outcome it could be struck down or re-instated. In the meanwhile, people are going to be afraid to even get near the zones for fear of being arrested.
And yes, most police now have license plate readers in their patrol cars, and they have ALL of our information instantly on their screens. Back in my day we had to call into dispatch to get information on a car. We didn’t even have computers; we still used typewriters.
So just a “this popped into my head” question. Is there a reason or was it ever considered to file an injunction against these local and county ordnances until the court rules? Only asking because it would at least offer some temporary relief of stress and headache. Same with SB212/HB45?
Thank you for all the work! So much legally going on!