AWC Legislative Bulletin - Volume 30, No. 6
November 16, 2007  (Plain Text Version)

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In this issue:
From the Director: Initiative 747 Declared Unconstitutional
SAVE THE DATE!
2008 AWC City Legislative Action Conference (CLAC):
January 30-31
Legislative Committee Meetings
Energy & Telecommunications
Environment & Water
General Local Government
Infrastructure, Transportation & Economic Development
Land Use & Housing
Law & Justice
Municipal Finance
Personnel & Labor Relations

Law & Justice

Sex Offenders

AWC is wrapping up our 18-month process regarding recommendations to the Legislature regarding sex offender residency restrictions. According to legislation passed in 2006, the final report is due by the end of 2007.

We have been working with the stakeholders identified in the bill to reach consensus on five topics adopted by the AWC Board in June, in lieu of regaining the authority locally to restrict where sex offenders may live. It appears there may be consensus on 4 of those 5 recommendations, though final decisions have not been made. Those items include the following:

  • Requiring sex offenders to notify a homeless shelter inwhich they are staying that they are a registered sex offender, and require shelters to make those records available to law enforcement for address verification. The shelter would also be required to decide if they accept sex offenders, which level of offenders, and to post their policy.
  • Continuing to grandfather in three cities (Monroe, Steilacoom, Issaquah) that enacted residency restrictions prior to the effective date of the 2006 legislation.
  • Working with the Department of Corrections to identify which offenders being released from custody are subject to the provisions of the law that allow cities to trespass such offenders from public property, which was a new tool provided to jurisdictions in the 2006 session. One difficulty in implementing this law is identifying which offenders are subject to it. This will greatly help with that process for offenders just being released.
  • Requesting a study to be conducted to review the factors contributing to homelessness.

The final recommendation was to add parks to the current statewide restriction on facilities 880 feet within which certain sex offenders may not reside. Though this addition was recommended by the AWC Board, the Washington State Association of Counties, Department of Corrections, and Washington Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs had concerns that this would further reduce the number of places a sex offender could find to live, and these stakeholders did not want to expand these restrictions.

The committee will finalize their work prior to the end of the year.

Attorney General Issues Informal Opinion about Gang Ordinances

Earlier this year, several cities in the Yakima valley adopted local ordinances to combat increases in gang activity. The ordinances were based on California law and some believed they would be considered unconstitutional here in Washington.

Rep. Bill Hinkle (R-Cle Elum), in his capacity as chair of the Municipal Research Council, requested an informal opinion from the Attorney General’s office. It was issued on October 26, and indicated the "ordinance definitions of ‘criminal street gang’ and ‘criminal gang activity’ might be found unconstitutionally overbroad, in part, because the terms arguably criminalize some protected expressive activity without requiring any specific intent to cause harm or any specific overt criminal act."

Though the opinion is advisory only and stops short of stating that a court would find the ordinance unconstitutional, those cities with ordinances may wish to consult their legal counsel about the impact of the analysis in this opinion.

The full opinion is available on the AWC website at AGO on Gang Ordinances.