CA- Ban on sex offenders working with minors weighed in Sacramento

The hysteria continues, this bill is really stupid because there are dozens of jobs where a RSO would have minimum contact in the PUBLIC EYE and no opportunity for offense. Proposing such a ban will leave registrants unemployable and on welfare rolls for society to support; at what point will that break the back of society? Society needs smart lawmakers not ones who cannot think past their own personal biases and prejudices.

8-27-2009 California:

RIVERSIDE — An Inland Empire lawmaker's proposed bill to prohibit convicted sex offenders from working in virtually any capacity that involves one-on-one contact with minors is expected to be considered Thursday by a state Senate committee.

AB 307, sponsored by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Beaumont, was approved 4-0 Tuesday by the Senate Public Safety Committee and is scheduled for a hearing Thursday in the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The bill appeared destined for defeat last month when Sen. Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, who heads the Public Safety Committee, came out strongly opposed to the measure and advocated tabling it.

AB 307's original language banned registered sex offenders from operating ice cream trucks, and any offender caught doing so would face misdemeanor charges, with a conviction resulting in fines up to $1,000 and six months in jail.

According to Cook, because ice cream truck vendors come into casual contact with children, a previously convicted sex offender driving one could pose a risk to some underage customers.

Cook was inspired to introduce legislation after learning a man convicted of lewd acts on a child had been operating an ice cream truck in Perris.

But Leno told City News Service last month that Penal Code section 290 provides penalties for the same acts Cook described in his bill, which the senator described as “a solution in search of a problem.”

Under PC 290, convicted sex offenders who have done their time are required to register with their local law enforcement agency and are prohibited from having contact with children “on more than an incidental and occasional basis.”

The law specifically bars sex registrants from working or volunteering in a capacity where they would supervise or be in the “unaccompanied” presence of a child under 16 years old.

Cook argued his bill would strengthen current state law. But Leno said the legislation would open the window to future, duplicate proposals in which sex registrants are prohibited from working in numerous other capacities.

The senator nonetheless said he would be happy to consider a revised version of AB 307. Cook followed up with an amended bill that would make it a misdemeanor for a sex registrant to work in a job in which the person is alone “providing goods or services to minors.”

“The amended language creates a bill that protects children statewide,” said Cook. “I think the solution we arrived at does a better job keeping sex offenders out of ice cream trucks.”

He said if the bill becomes law, it will remove some of the ambiguities authorities previously faced in determining whether a sex registrant was in violation of PC 290's workplace provisions.

“Legislators need to give law enforcement all the tools possible to protect minors from sexual predators,” Cook said. “Permitting district attorneys to prosecute registered sex offenders who prey on children by enticing them with goods and services is crucial to public safety.”

The Assembly unanimously approved Cook's original bill in May. ..Source.. by PAUL YOUNG City News Service