Keen, Ralston Ready With Fix For Sex Offender Law

(12/10/07) Just weeks after the Georgia Supreme Court threw out the residency restriction for sex offenders, state House leaders are ready with a fix.

House Majority Leader Jerry Keen and Judiciary (non-civil) Chairman David Ralston announced at a news conference Monday they are pre-filing a bill they believe will handle the court’s problem with the law and reinstate it with slight changes.

Last month, the court threw out a provision of the law that prohibits registered sex offenders from living within 1,000 feet of where children congregate. The ruling came in the case of a registered sex offender who bought a home in Hampton that initially put him in compliance with the law because there were no schools, day care centers or other such gathering points for children nearby. But after a day care center was established within 1,000 feet of his home, he found himself in violation of the law.

The proposed legislation carves out an exemption for those who can show they were in compliance with the law when they established residency at a particular location, even though subsequent developments may have put them in violation.

Keen said the net effect of the court’s ruling was “opening our borders up to registered sex offenders who currently have significant residency restrictions in Florida, in Alabama, in Tennessee, and now we basically, in my opinion, have opened the borders and invited them to come to Georgia and live anywhere they want to.”

He said he wants to see the proposed new law get into the governor’s hands as quickly as possible.

Ralston said he will call a committee hearing on the bill next week.

“I think this is a proper response by this Legislature,” said Ralston. “We’re concerned that Georgia, without this, is going to become a dumping ground for these people that we have tried to protect our children from.”