Cook bill fails first committee

3-21-2012 California:

Legislation that would have required certain registered sex offenders to always carry their driver's license or other form of state-issued identification failed its first committee test Tuesday.

The bill by Assemblyman Paul Cook, R-Yucca Valley, would have applied to sex offenders convicted of child-related crimes as well as those classified as sexually violent predators when they left their "domiciles." Violators would have been guilty of a misdemeanor.

Cook's office said the bill was necessary to deal "with the worst of the worst."

"Requiring the most dangerous sex offenders to carry a form of identification is the most effective way for law enforcement to determine a suspect's registration status," Cook's office wrote in an analysis of the bill by the Assembly Public Safety Committee.

But committee staff contended that the measure might not be constitutional. They also questioned how it would apply to offenders who are homeless or who have lost their ID, among other potential problems.

The measure failed on a party-line vote. ..Source.. by PE Politics