SB 1199 heads to Brown for signature
A bill by state Sen. Scott Wilk., R-Santa Clarita, aimed at stopping what supporters of the bill called the state’s “dumping” of sex offenders in rural areas, is now headed to Gov. Jerry Brown for a signature.
Senate Bill 1199 would require, when reasonably possible, a family or community connection before paroling a sex offender into a community.
The bill addresses several dangers that exist in current state law, Wilk said Thursday, as well as looking to correct a situation that wasn’t fair to communities or the offender in need of rehabilitation.
Wilk shared a statistic indicative of the problem in many rural communities: While the state average is about one sex offender for every 757 residents, in Littlerock, the figure is closer to 1-in-50 due to the high number of registrants.
Jessica’s Law prohibits sex offender parolees released from prison on or after Nov. 8, 2006, from residing within 2,000 feet of any school and park where children congregate.
However, in what Wilk called an unintended consequence, the law “clusters” offenders disproportionately in areas with more compliant and cheaper housing, which tend to be in rural areas.
“This is not only dangerous for these communities, but it puts a tremendous strain on the availability of the services and supervision needed for the parolee to successfully rehabilitate,” he said. “It’s also not fair to the offender, because if (the offender) really is trying to change, you want to make sure you have access to services and have an infrastructure in place.”
The scrutiny was renewed in 2014, when Christopher Hubbard, aka “the Pillowcase Rapist,” was released to the Antelope Valley by a Santa Clara County judge.
“Too often my district is the stepchild to downtown L.A.,” Wilk said, “and it’s not fair, so we’re trying to correct that.”
Brown now has 12 days to sign, approve without signing or veto the bill.