Increases Megan's Law Protections, Keeps Sexual Offenders Off California Streets
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today reinforced his
commitment to public safety by signing legislation that establishes stricter
probation standards for offenders with child pornography-related convictions and
increases the registry requirements for sexual offenders mandated by Megan's
Law. The Governor also signed legislation that will provide additional resources
to evaluate convicts considered to be sexually violent predators and prevent the
release of those individuals into the community.
"Protecting Californians has always been my top priority
and this legislation ensures that the state will continue to have the strictest
laws and toughest penalties to protect our children against sexual predators,"
Governor Schwarzenegger said. "It is important to pass legislation that provides
law enforcement officials with the tools they need to remove dangerous sex
offenders from our streets and neighborhoods."
The following four bills have been signed into
law:
- SB 1187 by Senator Jim Battin (R-La Quinta) makes changes to an existing law requiring the Department of Justice to publish the personal information of persons convicted of specified sexual offenses on the online registry pursuant to Megan's Law. This bill extends the publishing requirement to those convicted of felony child pornography starting January 1, 2010.
- SB 1302 by Senate Minority Leader Dave Cogdill (R-Modesto) makes conforming and technical changes to various sentencing provisions, particularly sex crime sentencing provisions. The bill mandates stronger probation standards for persons found guilty of continuous sexual abuse against children.
- SB 1546 by Senator George Runner (R-Antelope Valley) authorizes the Department of Mental Health to contract with independent evaluators to perform initial, pre-commitment clinical evaluations of inmates for possible commitment as sexually violent predators effective until January 1, 2011.
- AB 3038 by Assemblymember Van Tran (R-Costa Mesa) removes the limitation that allows the disclosure of the name and address of a victim of a sex offense to a probation officer only when conducting an investigation in the preparation of a pre-sentence report.
Today's action reflects Governor Schwarzenegger's strong
public safety record. It builds off of legislation he signed in 2004 that put
the Megan's Law database on the Internet and the Governor's firm commitment to
providing resources for the full implementation of Jessica's
Law.
The Governor is dedicated to protecting children and
families from sexual offenders:
- In 2007, the Governor signed SB 866 by Senator Runner to properly fund the implementation of voter-approved Jessica's Law. The legislation provided $12.5 million to fund the cost of increased sexually violent predator clinical screenings, evaluations, expert court testimonies and support positions.
- Governor Schwarzenegger also signed an executive order establishing the High Risk Sex Offender Task Force in May 2006 to make recommendations on improving the state's program to track and monitor paroled sex offenders in the state and has since ordered those recommendations to be implemented.
- The Governor also signed legislation creating the Sex Offender Punishment, Control and Containment Act which enhances penalties and implements new laws for registered sex offenders, including punishing continuous child sexual abuse by an automatic 25-year-to-life prison sentence, making possession of pornography depicting children a felony in some cases, discouraging please bargains for violent sex offenders, and including youth recreational facilities in addition to schools when restricting access to sex offenders.
