Work release, school property ban for Kansas sex offenders clears Senate; House rejects it

Garden City Republican Sen. Bill Clifford, right, voted for legislation banning certain people on the state's sex offender registry from taking part in work-release programs or from being on school property, but wants the Legislature in the future to consider bills offering expungement to some offenders. The bill targeting sex offenders won passage 38-2 in the Senate and awaits action by the House. (Photo by Sherman Smith/Kansas Reflector)

TOPEKA — The Kansas Senate voted for and the Kansas Senate against legislation forbidding adults on the state’s offender registry who were found guilty of a sexually motivated crime against a person under the age of 16 from participating in work-release programs or having access to private or public school property.

The 32-8 consensus of the Senate on Wednesday demonstrated interest in protecting the state’s youth from predators, but two Democrats in the chamber questioned lack of exceptions for an offender to attend public events such as a school graduation. The issue of Christian forgiveness was raised by a Republican aware of a constituent on the registry.

On Thursday, the House voted 46-75 to defeat a motion to concur with the Senate. That placed the legislation in grave danger of dying on the vine at the Capitol.

“It punishes the child, not just the parent on the registry,” said Rep. Angela Martinez, D-Wichita. “Kids need to have their parents involved in their life.”

Rep. Samantha Poetter Parshall, R-Paola, urged the House to reject the legislative package because it would deny people the right to vote at polling stations located in school buildings.

Leawood Sen. Kellie Warren, Republican chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said House Bill 2527 should be part of state law to better shield the public, especially students in schools, from potential recidivists who where 18 years old or more when they committed a sex crime against someone under age 16.

“The intent of this bill is to protect kids from being the target of folks who are on the sex offender registry,” Warren said.

Under the bill assembled by House and Senate negotiators, neither a judge nor the Kansas Department of Corrections could place someone in a work-release program who met the bill’s age definitions and required to be on the register.

In addition, the bill makes it a felony crime for a person on the registry to enter property of a K-12 public or private school unless the activity was related to a religious service. The other exception to the statute was for students who turned 18 but were still receiving academic instruction at a school.

Sen. Bill Clifford, a Garden City Republican who voted for the bill, said the Legislature ought to work on legislation allowing expungement of convictions for certain sex offenses. He said people guilty of other serious crimes were required to serve their sentences but weren’t placed on a lifetime registry that made it difficult to gain employment or be part of a family.

“Certainly, many of us have constituents who, in this day and age, have kind of got caught up on the internet in a moment of poor judgment and found themselves guilty of soliciting a minor,” Clifford said.

Warren said the bill presented to Senate and House members for up-or-down votes didn’t include an off-ramp for Kansans convicted of sex crimes.

“I think somebody who offended, maybe not the second-time offender, but the first offender, as a Christian, I’d say at some point, ‘I forgive you and give grace,'” Clifford said.

Sen. Marci Francisco, D-Lawrence, and Sen. David Haley, D-Kansas City, questioned the bill’s inclusion of an exemption for religious activities hosted by schools but not for individuals to observe school plays, sports activities or graduation ceremonies in those same buildings.

“I think the issue here is that it’s so limiting,” said Francisco, who voted for the legislation.

Haley, who voted against the bill, said the legislation prohibited a parent or grandparent who committed a crime years ago from attending school activities open to the public and capable of being monitored by security. He said the bill would impose in Kansas some of the most stringent restraints on offender registrants.

“We all are wanting to insure we protect our children and that we make our schools as safe as they can possibly be,” Haley said. “My concern is the real-world application.”

Warren reminded lawmakers offenders required to abide by mandates in HB 2527 were a subset of people on the state’s offender registry. The legislation applied to individuals 18 or older convicted of an offense against someone under age 16, she said.

“The action of the adult has consequences,” Warren said. “What are we going to say to the next victim of that adult if the adult reoffends against a 15-year-old child? What do you say to them?”