New York Senate Bill S02711 Latest Draft

   
  STATE OF NEW YORK ________________________________________________________________________ 2711 2025-2026 Regular Sessions  IN SENATE January 22, 2025 ___________ Introduced by Sens. OBERACKER, ASHBY, BORRELLO, GALLIVAN, MATTERA, PALUMBO -- read twice and ordered printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and 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 their sex offense or sexually violent offense. 8 (b) The residence prohibition established by paragraph (a) of this 9 subdivision shall remain in effect for as long as the offender is clas- 10 sified as a level two or three sex offender. 11 (c) In any prosecution pursuant to this subdivision, it shall be an 12 affirmative defense that, after the sex offender's conviction of a sex 13 offense or sexually violent offense, the victim of such offense estab- 14 lished a residence within fifteen hundred feet of the sex offender's 15 residence. 16 (d) No provision of this subdivision shall be deemed to require the 17 disclosure or notification of the address of any victim to a sex offen- 18 der. 19 2. (a) It shall be unlawful for any level two or three sex offender to 20 knowingly reside or enter within one thousand five hundred feet of any 21 school grounds. For the purposes of this subdivision, "school grounds" 22 means any building, structure, athletic playing field, playground or 23 land contained within the real property line of a public or private EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets [ ] is old law to be omitted. LBD01833-01-5 
 S. 2711 2 1 elementary, parochial, intermediate, junior high, vocational or high 2 school. 3 (b) It shall be unlawful for any level two or three sex offender to 4 knowingly attend or participate in any event or activity sponsored by a 5 public or private elementary, parochial, intermediate, junior high, 6 vocational or high school, regardless of whether such event or activity 7 is conducted upon school grounds. 8 (c) The prohibitions imposed by paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subdi- 9 vision shall remain in effect for as long as the sex offender is classi- 10 fied as a level two or three sex offender. 11 (d) In any prosecution pursuant to paragraph (a) of this subdivision, 12 it shall be an affirmative defense that: 13 (i) the sex offender resides within a facility operated by and is in 14 the custody of a local corrections department, a county sheriff, the 15 department, the office of children and family services or the office of 16 mental health; 17 (ii) the sex offender established their residence prior to the effec- 18 tive date of this subdivision, or school grounds are established or 19 extended after the sex offender has established their residence; 20 (iii) the sex offender is under twenty-one years of age or a ward 21 under a guardianship; or 22 (iv) the sex offender's place of residence has been fixed by order of 23 a court of competent jurisdiction, or by any federal, state, county or 24 city agency having jurisdiction over the sex offender. 25 (e) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (a) of this subdivi- 26 sion, a level two or three sex offender may enter upon and within one 27 thousand five hundred feet of school grounds for the limited purpose of 28 casting their ballot at their polling place, within such one thousand 29 five hundred feet area, in a special, primary or general election for 30 which the sex offender is registered to vote. The provisions of this 31 paragraph shall only apply to a sex offender who provides not less than 32 thirty days notice to the building principal of the appropriate school, 33 that such sex offender will be entering upon or near school grounds for 34 the purpose of voting. Such notice shall also state the one hour period 35 of time during which the sex offender will cast their ballot, and the 36 exemption granted by this paragraph shall only apply to the sex offender 37 during such one hour period of time. 38 3. A sex offender who violates the provisions of this section shall be 39 guilty of a class E felony. 40 § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after 41 it shall have become a law.