Board to Rescind Residency Restrictions for Sex Offenders

By City News Service:

Riverside County supervisors are expected Tuesday to begin the process of nullifying an ordinance prohibiting where convicted sex offenders can reside.

The Office of County Counsel is requesting that the Board of Supervisors completely invalidate Ordinance 902 in order for the county to comply with a California Supreme Court finding that residency restrictions are no longer enforceable, except in narrowly defined circumstances.

Ordinance 902 was implemented in July 2010 as a protective measure to ensure individuals convicted of various sex crimes were barred from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. Similar laws were already on the books in neighboring Orange and San Diego counties.

Earlier this month, the state Supreme Court ruled that the anti- residency provisions, made possible by Proposition 83 -- better known as Jessica’s Law -- were “unreasonable, arbitrary and oppressive.”

Associate Justice Marvin Baxter penned the court’s decision and agreed with four convicted sex offenders from San Diego County who filed suit and argued for dismantling residency requirements based on the fact they were unable to find suitable living arrangements.

One of the petitioners stated that he had resorted to living in a dry riverbed after being blocked by his parole agent from renting space in the vicinity of schools.

Some lawmakers, including Assemblywoman Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore, denounced the court’s decision as “judicial activism” that would inevitably endanger children.

The Board of Supervisors last July repealed an anti-loitering regulation that made it a crime for registered sex offenders to stand or relax within 300 feet of a school, park, bus stop, library, public swimming pool or similar location where children gather.

That board action followed appellate court decisions that determined the restrictions were too intrusive and conflicted with state parole measures already in place.

County Counsel Greg Priamos noted that even with the county’s local restrictions abolished, a number of state regulations will remain in force under Penal Code section 290. That statue mandates that a convicted sex offender must:

• register his or her address and keep it current with local law enforcement
• obtain express permission from his or her parole agent before entering a park
• not enter a child daycare or adult residential care facility without first notifying the staff of his or her registration status
• not accept any job working with minors if the victim in the offender’s underlying crime was 16 years old or younger

Additionally, county officials pointed out that the Supreme Court decision did not strip away the power of parole officers to scrutinize an offender’s living situation and exercise discretion in having the convict relocate in the interest of public safety.

The board will conduct its first hearing on the repeal request tomorrow. A second hearing will be necessary, however, in the next two weeks to formally annul the ordinance.