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Senate passes second piece of legislation regarding Niagara County sex offender restrictions

by jmaloni

Press release

Wed, Jun 12th 2013 02:40 pm

The New York State Senate passed another piece of legislation that would again authorize Niagara County to prohibit level two and three sex offenders from being within a certain distance of any school grounds or child care facility, this time being a quarter mile. This bill (S. 5680), sponsored in the Senate by Sen. George D. Maziarz, addresses concerns raised in Niagara County regarding the ensured safety of the children in both the school and day care setting.

Currently, laws in New York only restrict individuals who are classified as level three sex offenders from knowingly entering upon school grounds. These laws do not address level two sex offenders. Further, Maziarz's camp said there are insufficient restrictions in place relating to facilities that provide child day care. This legislation would allow Niagara County to include restrictions on both level two and level three sex offenders from being within a quarter mile of a school, park, playground or any place where day care is provided.

"Recently, the Senate passed legislation allowing Niagara County to enforce its local law of prohibiting level two and three sex offenders from being within 1,500 feet of a school ground or child care facility (Senate Bill 3457)," Maziarz said. "This legislation again allows this local law to be enforced, as well as any statewide. It is imperative that this restriction, whether it be Niagara County only or statewide, be passed in order to protect the children. Safety of our community is a top priority and I highly encourage the Assembly to pass either piece of legislation to keep kids safe."

Senate bill 3457, which passed the Senate on May 21, currently has no sponsor in the Assembly. Senate bill 5680 is sponsored by Assemblyman Schimminger and was referred to the Corrections Committee on Jan. 25.

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