Assembly OKs Online Sex Offender Listing

The names and home addresses of convicted sex offenders would be available to the public on the Internet under a bill passed late Monday by the Assembly after a year of debate.

Democrats concerned about civil liberties and Republicans seeking maximum public disclosure compromised on a bill that would put within easy reach of the public the addresses of about 83,000 sex offenders classified as “high-risk” and “serious.”

Under California’s Megan’s Law, people must visit a police or sheriff’s station to access a database that shows where offenders live by ZIP Code, not address. The list also includes photos and gives physical descriptions, aliases and offenses.

According to the attorney general, California’s database of more than 99,000 registered sex offenders includes 1,800 “high-risk” offenders -- people who have been convicted of at least one violent sex offense and other offenses. Another 81,000 people listed in the database are characterized as “serious” sex offenders. Their offenses include child molestation, rape, felony sexual battery and oral copulation by force or with a minor.

Under the bill passed by the Assembly, serious offenders could petition a court to remove their addresses from the state-run website. The sex offender would bear the burden of proving to a court that he or she is not a risk to public safety.

Similarly, a prosecutor could petition a court to include more information about a sex offender on the Internet -- including make and model of their vehicle, workplace and school enrollment. But the prosecutor would have to prove that the greater disclosure is warranted by the person’s risk to the public.

The bill, AB 488 by Assemblywoman Nicole Parra (D-Hanford) passed 72-2, with Assembly members Jackie Goldberg (D-Los Angeles) and Loni Hancock (D-Berkeley) voting no. The bill’s prospects are uncertain in the more liberal Senate, which must consider it within the next few months.

Democrats and Republicans who had sparred bitterly over Megan’s Law in the last year congratulated one another and broke into applause after the vote.

“It will result in every high-risk and virtually every serious offender having their address on the Internet,” said Assemblyman Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who called the bill “one of the most important and strong measures in the nation.”

Assemblyman Todd Spitzer (R-Orange) said, “I’m very proud of the hard work in coming together to put this law on the books, and we have to do everything in our power to make sure the Senate passes it and the governor signs it.”

Emboldened by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling in March that sanctioned a state’s authority to publish the names and addresses of sex offenders on the Internet, Republicans had pushed for a law that would put the home address, work address and vehicle information of convicted sex offenders online. At least 35 states allow public access to their sex offender registries on the Internet.

But until Monday, the Democrats who dominate the Legislature rebuffed such efforts. The more liberal members of the Assembly argued that such easy, specific dissemination of information could open the way for vigilantism as well as unduly punish people who have served their time for criminal convictions and ruin their chance for rehabilitation.