April 11, 2017
Carson City, NV – Nevada Attorney General Adam Paul Laxalt urged the Legislature to hear and pass Assembly Bill (AB) 59, a bill that imposes additional conditions on sex offenders and is a crucial component of his office’s 2017 bill package. AB 59 is intended to help keep our communities safe by restoring the authority of the State Board of Parole Commissioners and the Division of Parole and Probation to impose and enforce conditions upon sex offenders under lifetime supervision. The deadline for passing bills out of committee is Friday, April 14th.
“Breaking from a longstanding tradition of hearing and passing bills presented by the attorney general and law enforcement, the democratically controlled Legislature has failed to hear and pass many of our bills this Session,” said Laxalt. “The safety and well-being of our communities is a vital part of my mission as attorney general, and AB 59, which is supported by law enforcement statewide, is common sense legislation to protect Nevada’s communities from sex offenders. By engaging in political gamesmanship, Democratic legislators are putting Nevada’s children at risk. We hope that law enforcement will continue to have a seat at Nevada’s policymaking table, but are concerned that this Session may shape-up to be ‘the session for the felon."
The purpose behind imposing conditions upon sex offenders under lifetime supervision is that certain sex offenders are so inherently dangerous that, after their prison and subsequent parole sentences have expired, additional oversight by law enforcement remains necessary to protect the community. If passed into law, AB 59 would restore law enforcement’s ability to monitor serious sex offenders who have already been convicted and sentenced for assault, producing child pornography, incest, lewdness with a minor, and even murder or kidnapping, if they are found to be sexually motivated.
In the past, these conditions included consenting to a home search without a warrant, obtaining prior approval before accepting employment or volunteer work that might bring them into contact with children, abiding by a curfew, submitting to drug tests, not using alcohol, not being alone with minors or around parks and school were minors frequent, and not viewing pornography or frequenting strip clubs. These conditions were imposed on a case-by-case basis by the Parole Board and enforced by the Division of Parole and Probation depending upon the particular sex offender and what factors might lead him or her to reoffend.
In the July 2016, McNeill v. State case, the Nevada Supreme Court held that the Parole Board does not have the authority to impose these types of conditions on sex offenders because they are not specifically set forth in State statute. After consulting with district attorney’s offices across the State, the Office of the Nevada Attorney General drafted AB 59.
For more information on AB 59 or to read the bill in its entirety, click here.
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