Bill Text: NJ A4329 | 2010-2011 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Prohibits sex offenders from being placed in family homeless shelters.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2011-11-21 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee [A4329 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2010-A4329-Introduced.html
Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman L. GRACE SPENCER
District 29 (Essex and Union)
SYNOPSIS
Prohibits sex offenders from being placed in family homeless shelters.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
As introduced.
An Act concerning sex offenders and supplementing chapter 13C of Title 55 of the Revised Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Any person who has been convicted of any sexual offense as defined in subsection b. of section 2 of P.L.1994, c.133 (C.2C:7-2), N.J.S.2C:14-2, or N.J.S.2C:14-3 shall be prohibited from being placed in an emergency shelter for the homeless as defined in section 2 of P.L.1985, c.48 (C.55:13C-2) if that shelter houses families with children.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill prohibits the placement of sex offenders in an emergency shelter for the homeless that houses families with children.
An "emergency shelter for the homeless" is defined as a building or structure in which a public entity or a private, nonprofit organization provides shelter, or food and shelter, for a limited period of time to individuals and families having neither a home nor the means to obtain a home or other temporary lodging. These emergency shelters include hotels and motels.
Under the bill, sex offenders include those persons who: (1) are subject to Megan's Law registration requirements; (2) have been convicted of sexual assault; or (3) have been convicted of criminal sexual contact.
It is the sponsor's intent that emergency shelters where families with children are placed be safe and habitable, and that families who already are coping with the stress of homelessness should not have the added concern of having to protect their children from the threat of a sex offender in their midst.
