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H 8065Police & Prisons

Criminal Offenses - Sexual Offender Registration and Community Notification

This bill changes the law so that all registered sex offenders must live at least 300 feet away from schools.

Held for study
Population
Affected
15
Email Legislator
Introduced Feb 27, 2026Committee House Judiciary

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends Rhode Island's sexual offender registration laws to standardize residency restrictions. Previously, Level 3 (high-risk) sex offenders were prohibited from living within 1,000 feet of a school, while other offenders faced different restrictions. This bill repeals the specific 1,000-foot rule for Level 3 offenders, making them subject to the same 300-foot residency restriction that applies to other registered offenders. Furthermore, the bill updates the legal text to use gender-neutral language and clarifies the specific method used to measure the distance between an offender's residence and a school property.

For younger readers

There are laws that say where people who have committed certain crimes are allowed to live. Before this new rule, some of these people were not allowed to live within 1,000 feet of a school, which is about three football fields. Now, the law is changing so that these people only have to stay 300 feet away from schools, which is about one football field. This change makes the rule the same for everyone in that group. The law also explains exactly how to measure that distance to make sure the rules are followed.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Registered sex offendersLevel 3 sex offendersSchoolsFamilies with childrenLaw enforcement agencies
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Reduces housing instability for Level 3 offenders by expanding the available areas where they can legally reside, potentially decreasing homelessness and aiding reintegration.
  • Standardizes restrictions for all offenders, removing the disparate treatment of Level 3 individuals regarding housing locations relative to schools.
  • Updates the statutory language to be gender-neutral ("the person's" instead of "his or her"), promoting inclusivity within the legal code.
  • Maintains a residency restriction zone (300 feet) around schools, which some advocates argue does not statistically deter re-offense but creates artificial barriers to housing.
  • Continues to rely on strict liability felony penalties for housing location violations, perpetuating a punitive approach to offender management rather than a rehabilitative one.
  • May cause concern within lower-income communities, which often have higher densities of rental housing near schools, regarding a perceived reduction in safety measures.
For Conservatives
  • Clarifies the specific method of measuring distance (straight line), closing potential loopholes where offenders could claim they were outside the zone based on walking paths.
  • Maintains felony penalties and significant fines for those who violate the residency restrictions, upholding strict consequences for breaking the law.
  • Streamlines the legal code by creating a uniform standard for all offenders, potentially reducing administrative confusion and government inefficiency in enforcement.
  • Drastically reduces the protective buffer zone for the most dangerous (Level 3) sex offenders from 1,000 feet to 300 feet near schools, potentially endangering children.
  • Removes the specific, stricter distinction for high-risk offenders, treating them the same as lower-level offenders regarding housing proximity to schools.
  • Replaces traditional gendered language ("his or her") with gender-neutral terms, which may be viewed as unnecessary political correctness in the legal code.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 10 additions · 15 deletions

SECTION 1. Section 11-37.1-10 of the General Laws in Chapter 11-37.1 entitled "Sexual Offender Registration and Community Notification" is hereby amended to read as follows: 11-37.1-10. Penalties.

(a) Any person who is required to register or verify his or her the person's address or give notice of a change of address or residence who knowingly fails to do so shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, be imprisoned not more than ten (10) years, or fined not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000), or both.

(b) Any person who is required to register or verify his or her the person's address or give notice of a change of address or residence who knowingly fails to do so shall be in violation of the terms of his or her the person's release, regardless of whether or not the term was a special condition of his or her the person's release on probation, parole, home confinement or other form of supervised release.

(c) Except in the case of a level-three (3) sex offender, any Any person who is required to register or verify his or her the person's address, who knowingly resides within three hundred feet (300′) of any school as defined in § 11-37.1-2, which distance shall be measured from the nearest boundary line of the real property supporting the residence of the person to the nearest boundary line of the real property that supports or upon which there exists a school in a straight line, without regard for intervening structures or objects, from the nearest portion of the property on which the person subject to this section resides, to the nearest property line of the premises of any school shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, may be imprisoned not more than five (5) years, or fined not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both.

(d) Any level-three (3) sex offender who knowingly resides within one thousand feet (1,000′) of any school as defined in § 11-37.1-2, which distance shall be measured from the nearest boundary line of the real property supporting the residence of the person to the nearest boundary line of the real property that supports or upon which there exists a school shall be guilty of a felony and, upon conviction, may be imprisoned for not more than five (5) years, or fined not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), or both.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.