Bill Text: CA AB655 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Registered sex offenders: local ordinances.
Sponsorship: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1)
Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2014-08-11 - Withdrawn from committee. Re-referred to Com. on RLS. [AB655 Detail]
Download: California-2013-AB655-Amended.html
BILL NUMBER: AB 655 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE AUGUST 7, 2014
AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 14, 2013
AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MAY 8, 2013
INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Quirk-Silva
FEBRUARY 21, 2013
An act to add Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section 73000)
to Title 8 of the Government Code, relating to courts.
amend Section 290.03 of the Penal Code, relating to registered
sex offenders, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect
immediately.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
AB 655, as amended, Quirk-Silva. Court reporters: salary
fund. Registered sex offenders: local ordinances.
Existing law, the Sex Offender Registration Act, requires persons
convicted of specified sex offenses to register with local
authorities for life while residing, located, attending school, or
working in California. Existing law, as adopted by the voters by the
passage of Proposition 83 at the November 7, 2006, statewide general
election, prohibits a person who is required to register as a sex
offender from living in specified places, including within 2,000 feet
of a school or park where children regularly gather. Existing law
authorizes municipal jurisdictions to enact local ordinances that
further restrict the residency of the registered sex offender.
Existing law makes it a misdemeanor for a person who is on parole for
specified sex offenses to enter any park where children regularly
gather without express permission from the person's parole agent.
This bill would state that the Legislature does not preempt local
agencies from enacting ordinances that restrict where registered sex
offenders may go within a local municipality.
This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute.
Existing law provides for the appointment of official reporters of
the courts, and prescribes the fees and compensation for reporting
services. Existing law requires the charge of an official court
reporter fee, in addition to any other fee required in civil actions
or cases, for the services of an official court reporter on the first
and each succeeding judicial day those services are provided, as
specified. Fees collected pursuant to this provision may be used only
to pay for services of an official court reporter in civil
proceedings.
Existing law, applicable to proceedings in the Los Angeles County
Superior Court, directs specified amounts to be set aside from the
revenue of the court, including fees for reporting services payable
by the parties, for deposit in the Reporters' Salary Fund. Existing
law requires the salaries and benefits of official reporters to be
paid from the fund, and authorizes the per diem fees and benefits of
official reporters pro tempore to be paid from that fund.
This bill would authorize each trial court to establish a
Reporters' Salary Fund for the payment of the salaries and benefits
of official reporters, as specified.
Vote: majority 2/3 . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: yes no .
State-mandated local program: no.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. Section 290.03 of the Penal
Code is amended to read:
290.03. (a) The Legislature finds and declares that a
comprehensive system of risk assessment, supervision, monitoring
, and containment for registered sex offenders residing in
California communities is necessary to enhance public safety and
reduce the risk of recidivism posed by these offenders. The
Legislature further affirms and incorporates the following findings
and declarations, previously reflected in its enactment of "Megan's
Law":
(1) Sex offenders pose a potentially high risk of committing
further sex offenses after release from incarceration or commitment,
and the protection of the public from reoffending by these offenders
is a paramount public interest.
(2) It is a compelling and necessary public interest that the
public have information concerning persons convicted of offenses
involving unlawful sexual behavior collected pursuant to Sections 290
and 290.4 to allow members of the public to adequately protect
themselves and their children from these persons.
(3) Persons convicted of these offenses involving unlawful sexual
behavior have a reduced expectation of privacy because of the public'
s interest in public safety.
(4) In balancing the offenders' due process and other rights
against the interests of public security, the Legislature finds that
releasing information about sex offenders under the circumstances
specified in the Sex Offender Punishment, Control, and Containment
Act of 2006 will further the primary government interest of
protecting vulnerable populations from potential harm.
(5) The registration of sex offenders, the public release of
specified information about certain sex offenders pursuant to
Sections 290 and 290.4, and public notice of the presence of certain
high risk sex offenders in communities will further the governmental
interests of public safety and public scrutiny of the criminal and
mental health systems that deal with these offenders.
(6) To protect the safety and general welfare of the people of
this state, it is necessary to provide for continued registration of
sex offenders, for the public release of specified information
regarding certain more serious sex offenders, and for community
notification regarding high risk sex offenders who are about to be
released from custody or who already reside in communities in this
state. This policy of authorizing the release of necessary and
relevant information about serious and high risk sex offenders to
members of the general public is a means of assuring public
protection and shall not be construed as punitive.
(7) The Legislature also declares, however, that in making
information available about certain sex offenders to the public, it
does not intend that the information be used to inflict retribution
or additional punishment on any person convicted of a sex offense.
While the Legislature is aware of the possibility of misuse, it finds
that the dangers to the public of nondisclosure far outweigh the
risk of possible misuse of the information. The Legislature is
further aware of studies in Oregon and Washington indicating that
community notification laws and public release of similar information
in those states have resulted in little criminal misuse of the
information and that the enhancement to public safety has been
significant.
(b) In enacting the Sex Offender Punishment, Control, and
Containment Act of 2006, the Legislature hereby creates a
standardized, statewide system to identify, assess, monitor and
contain known sex offenders for the purpose of reducing the risk of
recidivism posed by these offenders, thereby protecting victims and
potential victims from future harm.
(c) The Legislature does not preempt local agencies from enacting
ordinances that restrict where persons required to register pursuant
to Section 290 may go within a municipality.
SEC. 2. This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
In order to provide municipalities with the ability to adopt and
implement ordinances related to restrictions on sex offenders, it is
necessary that this act take effect immediately.
SECTION 1. Chapter 9.5 (commencing with Section
73000) is added to Title 8 of the Government Code, to read:
CHAPTER 9.5. REPORTERS' SALARY FUND
73000. Each trial court may establish a Reporters' Salary Fund.
73002. The Reporters' Salary Fund shall be a revolving fund .
Funds deposited into the Reporters' Salary Fund shall, upon
appropriation, be used solely to contribute to the salaries and
benefits of official reporters.
