On Thursday, Senate Bill 1199, introduced by Senator Scott Wilk, R-Antelope Valley, to reform the release and placement procedures for California’s sex offenders so that they prioritize community safety, unanimously passed the California State Senate.

“Areas like the Victor and Antelope valleys should not bear the brunt of rehousing and rehabilitating California’s sex offenders simply because they are more affordable. Unfortunately that is what has happened as a result of other laws put into place to protect citizens from newly paroled sex-offenders,” said Wilk. “The Assembly will now have an opportunity to weigh-in on ensuring the placement and rehabilitation of these sexual predators does not take place solely in California’s more affordable and remote communities.”

SB 1199 would expand current protections against the ‘dumping’ of sexually violent predators into random communities to include, when reasonably possible, requiring authorities to take familial and community ties into consideration when determining where inmates convicted of registrable sex offenses are placed upon release.

“This is not only dangerous for our communities, but it puts a tremendous strain on the availability of services and supervision needed when they are dumped in high concentration in more remote communities like those of the Antelope and Victor valleys,” said Wilk. “The goal is to keep registered sex-offenders from re-offending and to keep our communities safe. Our best chance at that is if they receive the appropriate services, and have the support of their families and friends by being placed in to their original home communities.”

Senate Bill 1199 will now be sent to the Assembly where it will be considered in the Assembly Public Safety Committee.