LIBERTY, Mo. — Schools in Kansas and Missouri differ in more ways than just the state line dividing them.
Kansas has never had a state law restricting certain sex offenders from being on school property.
In addition, Kansas doesn’t have residency restrictions.
Lawmakers in Kansas want that to change.
Senate Sub for HB 2164 passed the Kansas Senate by a vote of 37-3 on Thursday.
The bill was proposed by Kansas Sen. Kellie Warren after parents in the Blue Valley School District made complaints about a registered sex offender being allowed to attend an elementary school dance in a chaperone role.
If the bill becomes law, it would be a felony offense for registered adult sex offenders convicted of crimes against minors to enter school property or attend certain school activities.
[Kansas registrants and supporters, take action to fight this bill]
OK, about 30 years of SORA in Kansas without residence and presence restrictions. Surely, there must have been hundreds of sex crimes committed by registrants on minors during that stretch.
And I couldn’t help noticing the article saying that registrants had to get permission from the principal in these circumstances, meaning their problem could have been solved by simply complaining to the principal.
Since Kansas doesn’t have residency restrictions, it’d be interesting to do a study comparing homeless rates in Kansas & Missouri for people on the registry. I understand that Missouri is a much more urbanized state, but that might be remedied by comparing cities with similar urban challenges & demographics. Such as Kansas City Mo and Kansas City KS which are next door to each other. Or similar college towns like Lawrence KS and Columbia Mo. Or perhaps a study was already done, and Kansas is pointing to the study’s positive results as reason not to have residency ordinances. They have to be showing something to stave off politicians & Karens that want to change the law!
Toto, I have a feeling common sense isn’t in Kansas anymore. Did the guy assault, rape, or do anything to child? No just a bunch of pearl clutching and nothing more.
While the registry is a complete farce, I’m glad many of the laws proposed or enacted are limited to REGISTERED people. They could just as easily be worded as those simply convicted of an offense, which would eliminate any chance towards normalcy in one’s life. With more states leaning toward or adopting a tier style system, this at least gives many a path. I wish lawmakers would at least show enough interest to have a followup study done and publicly acknowledge the ultra low recidivism rate of sex offenses. They enact laws, but never follow up as to the affect of them on their constituents. Instead they count on LE to provide absurd arrest records from stings and random sweeps to point out their “Victories” against those looking to harm the youth of our communities (Last sentence paraphrased from a Nevada city councilman).
Another so-called solution looking for a problem.