The Overview

If you run a day care center in California, a new state law bars sexually violent predators on conditional release from being placed within the buffer zone around your facility. Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) signed AB 767, the Sexually Violent Predators: Schools bill, on Sept. 18. ​

California's program for releasing sexually violent predators has faced difficulty finding suitable housing, with placements sometimes taking months or years, according to KPBS. The Los Angeles Times reported that the program's housing contractor took an average of 17 months to secure housing for current participants.

What the Law Does

California already barred conditionally released sexually violent predators from being placed within a buffer around any public or private school if they had prior child sexual-misconduct convictions or a court-found history of such conduct, and the new law extends that buffer to day care centers. It also defines "day care center" and "private school" for purposes of these restrictions, spelling out in statute exactly which facilities the quarter-mile rule covers.

The law also specifies that a day care center or private school, including a home-based one, that opens after a placement is already in place cannot make that existing placement noncompliant.

The quarter-mile buffer applies only when the conditionally released person has prior convictions for sexual misconduct involving children or a court finding of such a history. The restriction covers both public and private schools, and now day care centers as well.

Legislative Status

Asm. Juan Alanis (R-CA-22) authored the bill. The full Assembly passed it 71-0 on Jan. 26. The Senate passed it 39-0 on Aug. 27, and the Assembly concurred in Senate amendments 76-0 on Aug. 30.

Alanis, the bill's author, said in an Aug. 30 announcement that AB 767 "provides clearer rules for some of the most difficult placement decisions our communities face," and that the bill "protects legitimate homeschools and day care centers while also providing certainty to the placement process."

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