Senator Ken LaValle: Senate Passes Bills to Toughen Penalties on Sex Offenders

January 28, 2015 – Senator Ken LaValle reports that the NY State Senate approved a complete package of legislation that would help keep communities safer from sexual predators.

Senator Ken LaValle said. “Accurate residency information is crucial to help safeguard children, college students, and members of our communities from these sexual predators. These bills are critical to increasing the penalties for violations of residency reporting. We need to continue to strengthen important protections against sexual predators.”

The seven bills would help prevent the most dangerous offenders from having contact with children and college students, require more stringent residency reporting requirements for the sex offender registry, strengthen penalties for those who help sex offenders evade registration requirements, and create a public awareness program to educate schools, community groups, and clergy on issues related to sex offenders.  

• Senate Legislation S851 would prohibit Level 2 and 3 sex offenders from being placed in temporary and emergency housing or homeless shelters where children are present.  

• Senate Bill S869 would make a crime for anyone to knowingly harbor, house, or employ a sex offender who has failed to register or verify residence or employment and fails to contact their local law enforcement agency.

• Senate measure S2084 would prohibit a sexually violent or Level 3 sex offender who committed a crime against a child from being granted custody and unsupervised visitation with a child.  These sex offenders would remain ineligible unless they provide clear and convincing evidence that custody or visitation would benefit the child.

• Senate Legislation S1608 would require reporting of multiple residences when a sex offender is living somewhere part-time. Under current law, offenders are only required to register their primary residence with the Division of Criminal Justice Services. The bill also requires the Division to develop a notification system to report offenders who have multiple residences.

• Senate Bill S396 would require the commissioner of the Office for People with Developmental Disabilities to contact local officials and school superintendents when a sex offender is transferred to a community program or residence within their municipality.  

• Legislation S833 would prohibit Level 3 sex offenders from living in student housing on college campuses and makes it a class A misdemeanor upon conviction of a first offense, and a class D felony upon conviction for a second or subsequent offense.

• Senate bill S845 would establish a sex offender public awareness outreach program. This program would provide educational outreach to schools, community groups, and clergy on issues related to sex offenders.

The Senate legislation will all be transferred to the Assembly for consideration.

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