The Senate Public Safety Committee will hear Senate Bill 448 (SB 448) on July 14. The bill, if passed, would require all registered citizens to disclose their “internet identifiers” to law enforcement within five working days. “The bill’s requirement would violate the 1st Amendment rights of registered citizens,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci, “because the identify of registered citizens would be revealed every time they expressed their opinions on websites such as that operated by CA RSOL.” The author of the bill is Senator Hueso, a Democrat, who represents…
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A place to call home: Lawsuit filed against Grover Beach by a sex offender was years in the making
Grover Beach is being sued over its residency restrictions on sex-offenders, and there shouldn’t be anyone surprised about it. Officials with the city, which is one of only two in SLO County that passed restrictions on top of those required by state law, likely knew the ordinance would eventually be challenged in court, but moved forward with its creation and enforcement anyway, according to documents obtained by New Times. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Senate Bill 54 – Is the Battle Over? Maybe, Maybe Not [updated with sample letter and contact info]
The Senate Public Safety Committee conducted a hearing on June 30 during which it considered Senate Bill 54 (SB 54). The bill, if passed, would (1) overturn a recent CA Supreme Court decision that declared blanket residency restrictions for registered citizens on parole to be unconstitutional and (2) prevent most registered citizens from obtaining judicial relief from those restrictions. The bill would not, as described by Senator Runner’s staff, break a stalemate created by the CA Supreme Court, and prevent 5 to 10 years of litigation. Instead, the bill would…
Read MoreBill To Revive Restrictions On Sex Offender Housing Stalls
SACRAMENTO (AP) — A bill seeking to revive broad restrictions on where sex offenders can live in California has stalled in a state Senate committee. Republican Sen. Sharon Runner of Lancaster introduced SB54 after the state Supreme Court ruled that prohibiting all sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of schools or parks goes too far. State parole officers now impose the restriction only on pedophiles and others whose sex crimes involved children. Full Article Related Senate committee kills public safety measure designed to clarify sex-offender restrictions
Read MoreCourts are reconsidering residency restrictions for sex offenders
In 2006, California voters passed “Jessica’s Law,” a ballot initiative that prohibited registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park. In 2011, crime analyst Julie Wartell of the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office analyzed how much housing was left for those offenders. Consulting land-use files, she concluded that just 0.7 percent of multifamily parcels in the county were compliant. Full Article
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: I Have a Dream – You Have a Dream
Registered citizens, family members and supporters gathered in Dallas, Texas, for three days to discuss the changing landscape for those convicted of a sex offense. The venue was the 6th annual National Reform Sex Offender law conference. This year’s conference was the fifth conference I attended and I was struck by the dramatic changes between this year’s conference and the first conference I attended in St. Louis in 2011. One such change was name tags. For the 2011 conference, many people chose not to wear name tags and those who…
Read MoreCA RSOL Meeting in Los Angeles – July 25
California RSOL will return its monthly meeting to Los Angeles on July 25. As usual, the location is the ACLU Building at 1313 W. 8th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90017. Start time is 10 am. We will focus on current topics, including pending legislation and legal actions as well as offer an opportunity for networking with others. We welcome registrants, friends and family and other supporters to attend. The meeting is off-limits to media and government officials in order to ensure everyone’s privacy. There is no charge to attend.
Read MoreFor Registered Sex Offenders, An Uphill Civil Rights Battle
In 2010, Frank Lindsay came home after running errands and noticed his front door was wide open. When he went inside to investigate, he found a young man in his dining room with two hammers — “one in each hand,” he recalls. “And he immediately raised the hammer in his right hand and started at me, indicating he wanted to kill me because I was a sick pervert.” The attacker had found Lindsay’s address on California’s Sex Offender Registry. Full Article
Read MoreGrover Beach Ordinance challenged in Federal Court
A lawsuit was filed today in federal district court challenging an ordinance recently adopted by the City of Grover Beach. The ordinance prohibits California sex offenders (“registrants”) from living within 2,000 feet of any school, park, or day care center. This is the first lawsuit to be filed challenging a city’s residency restrictions after the California Supreme Court’s decision which declared such restrictions unconstitutional. Civil rights attorney Janice Bellucci filed the lawsuit on behalf of Frank Lindsay, who has resided in Grover Beach for 18 years. According to Bellucci, the…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Carson Court of Opinion to Convene on July 21
The City of Carson has taken a stance. It has “declared war” against registered citizens. That war includes both presence restrictions which prohibit all registered citizens from visiting both public and private places as well as residency restrictions which prohibit all registered citizens from living in a significant part of that city. The Carson City Council knows that its laws do not comply with recent state appellate court decisions which are based upon interpretations of the state and federal constitutions. Members of that Council have stated publicly, however, that they…
Read MoreCourt Rules Against City of Carson
The L.A. Superior Court ruled today that plaintiff Frank Lindsay may amend his initial complaint and declared moot a request by the City of Carson for a demurrer in the case. In the initial complaint, Lindsay asked the Court to require the City of Carson to honor the terms of the settlement agreement reached between the parties in July 2014. The terms included a significant revision of the city’s presence restrictions in order to be consistent with current state law as well. In the amended complaint, Lindsay will ask the…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Two Heart Beats Away from President
As Speaker of the House of Representatives, John Dennis Hastert was two heart beats away from serving as President of the United States. That is, if both the President and Vice President had died while in office, Hastert would have stepped into the Oval Office and assumed the leadership of this country. The fact is that Hastert was a member of the U.S House of Representatives for 20 years, representing a Congressional district in Illinois from 1987 to 2007. The fact is that Hastert became the Speaker of the House…
Read MoreCity of El Monte Repeals Residency Restrictions
The El Monte City Council agreed to repeal the city’s residency restrictions for registered citizens during its meeting on June 2. This was the second of three steps necessary to rid the city of its residency restrictions. The repeal will go into effect on July 1 unless it is contested in court. The City of El Monte is the second city to repeal its residency restrictions following a decision by the California Supreme Court earlier this year. The first city to repeal its residency restrictions is the City of Downey.…
Read MoreSenate Public Safety to Consider Residency Restrictions Bill [UPDATED with Public Safety Committee Hearing Date]
UPDATE: The Senate Public Safety Committee has scheduled the hearing for SB 54 on June 30. The hearing will begin at 9:30 a.m. and be held in Room 4203 in the State Capitol building. Senate Bill 54 (SB 54) has been referred to the Senate Public Safety Committee. Although a specific hearing date has not yet been set, the committee must hear the bill in either June or July to the Senate schedule. As currently written, SB 54 would prohibit most registered citizens from living within 2,000 feet of a…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: Jessica’s Law Authors Attempt to Overturn CA Supreme Court Decision
Sharon Runner is at it again. She is trying to overturn the recent CA Supreme Court decision that declared unconstitutional residency restrictions as applied to parolees in San Diego. Runner is attempting to do this through the “gut and amend” process by completely rewriting Senate Bill (SB) 54. In its current form, SB 54 would create a state law that prohibits most registered citizens from living within 2,000 feet of schools, parks and other places where children regularly gather as well as authorize municipal jurisdictions to pass even more stringent residency restrictions Sharon Runner is best known for her…
Read MoreRSOL Conference in Dallas – June 25-27
We are excited to announce that our seventh annual conference will be held in Dallas Texas, June 25-27. Cost of the conference is $100. You can get a discounted rate of $80 if you sign up before June 1. Texas residents also get a discounted rate of $75, and RSOL members can sign up for $70. So don’t delay – Sign up TODAY! Seasoned advocates and professionals are aware of the enormous obstacles we face as we seek more rational sentencing for those convicted of sexual related offenses and restoration of…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: SB 267 – We Did It
We did it! We stopped Senate Bill 267!! And now for the rest of the story. Prior to the hearing on SB 267, California RSOL was invited for the first time to join two like minded organizations for meetings in the offices of all seven members of the Public Safety Committee. We didn’t have appointments. We just stopped by. The reception we received from the two sides of the aisle were starkly different. We were warmly welcomed into the Democratic offices where we heard they had received lots of letters…
Read MoreJanice’s Journal: SB 267 Withdrawn
We did it! We stopped SB 267! The California state legislature will not consider for the remainder of this year any bill that would authorize cities and counties to pass laws that prohibit registered citizens from being present in or near public and private places. “This great victory is the result of individuals writing letters and making phone calls to state senators as well as testifying before the Senate Public Safety Committee,” stated CA RSOL president Janice Bellucci. “It is also the result of support from like minded organizations including…
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