Bill Text: NY A09953 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits level 2 and 3 sex offenders from residing within 1,500 feet of their victim or school grounds; prohibits such offenders from attending or participating in school sponsored activities.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-04-26 - referred to correction [A09953 Detail]
Download: New_York-2023-A09953-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 9953 IN ASSEMBLY April 26, 2024 ___________ Introduced by M. of A. TAGUE -- read once and referred to the Committee on Correction AN ACT to amend the correction law, in relation to restricting sex offenders from residing near the residence of their victim or near any school The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem- bly, do enact as follows: 1 Section 1. Section 168-w of the correction law, as renumbered by chap- 2 ter 604 of the laws of 2005, is renumbered section 168-x and a new 3 section 168-w is added to read as follows: 4 § 168-w. Level two and level three sex offender residence limitations; 5 penalty. 1. (a) It shall be unlawful for any level two or level three 6 sex offender to knowingly reside within fifteen hundred feet of the 7 residence of a victim of his or her sex offense or sexually violent 8 offense. 9 (b) The residence prohibition established by paragraph (a) of this 10 subdivision shall remain in effect for as long as the offender is clas- 11 sified as a level two or three sex offender. 12 (c) In any prosecution pursuant to this subdivision, it shall be an 13 affirmative defense that, after the sex offender's conviction of a sex 14 offense or sexually violent offense, the victim of such offense estab- 15 lished a residence within fifteen hundred feet of the sex offender's 16 residence. 17 (d) No provision of this subdivision shall be deemed to require the 18 disclosure or notification of the address of any victim to a sex offen- 19 der. 20 2. (a) It shall be unlawful for any level two or three sex offender to 21 knowingly reside or enter within one thousand five hundred feet of any 22 school grounds. For the purposes of this subdivision, "school grounds" 23 means any building, structure, athletic playing field, playground or 24 land contained within the real property line of a public or private 25 elementary, parochial, intermediate, junior high, vocational or high 26 school. EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [] is old law to be omitted. LBD03518-01-3A. 9953 2 1 (b) It shall be unlawful for any level two or three sex offender to 2 knowingly attend or participate in any event or activity sponsored by a 3 public or private elementary, parochial, intermediate, junior high, 4 vocational or high school, regardless of whether such event or activity 5 is conducted upon school grounds. 6 (c) The prohibitions imposed by paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdi- 7 vision shall remain in effect for as long as the sex offender is classi- 8 fied as a level two or three sex offender. 9 (d) In any prosecution pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision, 10 it shall be an affirmative defense that: 11 (i) the sex offender resides within a facility operated by and is in 12 the custody of a local corrections department, a county sheriff, the 13 department, the office of children and family services or the office of 14 mental health; 15 (ii) the sex offender established his or her residence prior to the 16 effective date of this subdivision, or school grounds are established or 17 extended after the sex offender has established his or her residence; 18 (iii) the sex offender is under twenty-one years of age or a ward 19 under a guardianship; or 20 (iv) the sex offender's place of residence has been fixed by order of 21 a court of competent jurisdiction, or by any federal, state, county or 22 city agency having jurisdiction over the sex offender. 23 (e) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivi- 24 sion, a level two or three sex offender may enter upon and within one 25 thousand five hundred feet of school grounds for the limited purpose of 26 casting his or her ballot at his or her polling place, within such one 27 thousand five hundred feet area, in a special, primary or general 28 election for which the sex offender is registered to vote. The 29 provisions of this paragraph shall only apply to a sex offender who 30 provides not less than thirty days notice to the building principal of 31 the appropriate school, that such sex offender will be entering upon or 32 near school grounds for the purpose of voting. Such notice shall also 33 state the one hour period of time during which the sex offender will 34 cast his or her ballot, and the exemption granted by this paragraph 35 shall only apply to the sex offender during such one hour period of 36 time. 37 3. A sex offender who violates the provisions of this section shall be 38 guilty of a class E felony. 39 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 40 it shall have become a law.