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COMMITTEE AMENDMENT AMENDED, ADOPTED AND AMENDED
May 29, 2008
H. 3094
Introduced by Reps. Brady, Haskins, Cotty, Mahaffey, Funderburk, Viers, Erickson, Hutson, Clemmons, Mulvaney, Harvin and Bedingfield
S. Printed 5/29/08--S.
Read the first time March 13, 2008.
TO AMEND THE CODE OF LAWS OF SOUTH CAROLINA, 1976, BY ADDING SECTION 23-3-535 SO AS TO LIMIT THE LOCATIONS IN WHICH A SEX OFFENDER MAY RESIDE AND TO PROVIDE A PENALTY FOR A PERSON WHO VIOLATES THIS PROVISION.
Amend Title To Conform
Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South Carolina:
SECTION 1. Article 7, Chapter 3, Title 23 of the 1976 Code is amended by adding:
"Section 23-3-535. (A) As contained in this section:
(1) 'Children's recreational facility' means a facility owned and operated by a city, county, or special purpose district used for the purpose of recreational activity for children under the age of eighteen.
(2) 'Daycare center' means an arrangement where, at any one time, there are three or more preschool-age children, or nine or more school-age children receiving child care.
(3) 'School' does not include a home school or an institution of higher education.
(4) 'Within one thousand feet' means a measurement made in a straight line, without regard to intervening structures or objects, from the nearest portion of the property on which the sex offender resides to the nearest property line of the premises of a school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, or public playground, whichever is closer.
(B) It is unlawful for a sex offender who has been convicted of any of the following offenses to reside within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, or public playground:
(1) criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first degree;
(2) criminal sexual conduct with a minor, second degree;
(3) assault with intent to commit criminal sexual conduct with a minor; or
(4) kidnapping a person under eighteen years of age.
(C) This section does not apply to a sex offender who:
(1) resided within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, or public playground before the effective date of this act;
(2) resided within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, or public playground on property the sex offender owned before the sex offender was charged with any of the offenses enumerated in subsection (B);
(3) resides within one thousand feet of a school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, or public playground as a result of the establishment of a new school, daycare center, children's recreational facility, park, or public playground;
(4) resides in a jail, prison, detention facility, group home for persons under the age of twenty-one licensed by the Department of Social Services, residential treatment facility for persons under the age of twenty-one licensed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control, or other holding facility, including a mental health facility; or
(5) resides in a homeless shelter for no more than one year, a group home for persons under the age of twenty-one licensed by the Department of Social Services, or a residential treatment facility for persons under the age of twenty-one licensed by the Department of Health and Environmental Control, and the site was purchased by the organization prior to the effective date of this act.
(D) If upon registration of a sex offender, or at any other time, a local law enforcement agency determines that a sex offender is in violation of this section, the local law enforcement agency must, within thirty days, notify the sex offender of the violation, provide the sex offender with a list of areas in which the sex offender is not permitted to reside, and notify the sex offender that the sex offender has thirty days to vacate the residence. If the sex offender fails to vacate the residence within thirty days, the sex offender must be punished as follows:
(1) for a first offense, the sex offender is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than thirty days, or fined not more than five hundred dollars, or both;
(2) for a second offense, the sex offender is guilty of a misdemeanor and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned not more than three years, or fined not more than one thousand dollars, or both;
(3) for a third or subsequent offense, the sex offender is guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, must be imprisoned for not more than five years, or fined not more than five thousand dollars, or both.
(E) A local government may not enact an ordinance that contains penalties that exceed or are less lenient than the penalties contained in this section.
(F)(1) At the beginning of each school year, each school district must provide:
(a) the names and addresses of every sex offender who resides within one thousand feet of a school bus stop within the school district to the parents or guardians of a student who boards or disembarks a school bus at a stop covered by this subsection; or
(b) the hyperlink to the sex offender registry website on the school district's website for the purpose of gathering this information.
(2) Local law enforcement agencies must check the school districts' websites to determine if each school district has complied with this subsection. If a hyperlink does not appear on a school district website, the local law enforcement agency must contact the school district to confirm that the school district has provided the parents or guardians with the names and addresses of every sex offender who resides within one thousand feet of a school bus stop within the school district. If the local law enforcement agency determines that this information has not been provided, the local law enforcement agency must inform the school district that it is in violation of this subsection. If the school district does not comply within thirty days after notice of its violation, the school district is subject to equitable injunctive relief and, if the plaintiff prevails, the district shall pay the plaintiff's attorney's fees and costs."
SECTION 2. Section 23-3-470(B)(1) of the 1976 Code is amended to read:
"(B)(1) A person convicted for a first offense is guilty of a misdemeanor and must may be fined not more than five hundred dollars or imprisoned for not more than thirty a mandatory period of ninety days, or both no part of which shall be suspended nor probation granted."
SECTION 3. If any section, subsection, item, subitem, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, or word of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional or invalid, such holding shall not affect the constitutionality or validity of the remaining portions of this act, the general assembly hereby declaring that it would have passed this act, and each and every section, subsection, item, subitem, paragraph, subparagraph, sentence, clause, phrase, and word thereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, subsections, items, subitems, paragraphs, subparagraphs, sentences, clauses, phrases, or words hereof may be declared to be unconstitutional, invalid, or otherwise ineffective.
SECTION 4. This act takes effect upon approval by the Governor and ninety days after the State Law Enforcement Division has certified that sex offender mapping software has been implemented.
This web page was last updated on Monday, June 22, 2009 at 2:34 P.M.