For the purposes of this chapter, the following definitions
shall apply:
CHILD-CARE FACILITY
A licensed and/or registered nursery, preschool, child day-care
center, group family day-care home, and family day-care home as defined
by the New York State Social Services Law.
CHILD SAFETY ZONE
Within 1,000 feet of the real property within Putnam County
comprising a public or private, elementary, middle or high school,
child-care facility, nature preserve, park, playground, public or
private youth center or public swimming pool, public or commercial
recreational facility clearly designed to attract children, including
but not limited to theaters, bowling alleys, sports fields, exercise
or sporting facilities, and, additionally, multifamily dwellings (three
families or more), apartment buildings, co-ops, condominiums, mobile
home (trailer) parks, or other clustered housing developments (10
or more single-family homes on less than 1/3 acre). Hotels, motels,
and rooming houses shall be exempt from a child safety zone with the
following exception:
A.
Exception. Convicted sex offenders shall not occupy more than
5% of the rooms for rent in any hotel, motel or rooming house. The
formula to determine the number of convicted sex offenders shall be
rounded to the nearest whole number. For example, any hotel, motel,
or rooming house with fewer than 29 rooms (29 x 0.05 = 1.45) shall
be allowed one convicted sex offender. Thirty rooms, (30 x 0.05 =
1.5) shall be allowed two convicted sex offenders.
(1)
This exception shall not apply to any convicted sex offender
living in a room for rent in any hotel, motel or rooming house at
the time this chapter is implemented, which convicted sex offender
shall be grandfathered. As those convicted sex offenders vacate the
premises, the room(s) shall not be rented unless the hotel, motel,
or rooming house is in full compliance with this chapter and the above-referenced
provision regarding maximum occupancy of sex offenders.
(2)
This exception shall not apply where the owner/manager notifies
all patrons of his or her housing unit(s), in writing, daily; that
a convicted sex offender is living on the premises.
(3)
Any hotel, motel or rooming house that violates these provisions
shall be subject to a civil penalty of $500 per day, per violation.
EMPLOYMENT
Doing work, whether or not for financial gain.
LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER HAVING JURISDICTION
The chief law enforcement officer of a local police department
in the village or town in which the sex offender resides or lives,
if there be no local police department in such village or town, the
Sheriff of Putnam County. If the primary law enforcement officer having
jurisdiction is the chief law enforcement officer of a police department
in the village or town in which the sex offender resides or lives,
but such officer does not enforce the provisions of this chapter,
then in that event the Sheriff of Putnam County shall be authorized
to enforce the provisions hereof.
RESIDENCE
The place where a person sleeps, which may include more than
one location and may be mobile and/or transitory.
SEX OFFENDER
Any person:
A.
Who has been classified as a Level 2 or Level 3 sex offender
pursuant to the procedures set forth in § 168-d of the New
York State Correction Law; and
B.
Who is currently required to register pursuant to § 168
of the New York State Correction Law, also known as the "Sex Offender
Registration Act" or "SORA"; and
C.
Whose residence, work and/or travel is not at the time of an
alleged violation of this chapter already governed by New York State
Law, including but not limited to Executive Law § 243, Subdivision
4 (restrictions on level 2 and 3 offenders on probation), Executive
Law § 259 (restrictions on Level 2 and 3 offenders on parole),
Executive Law § 259-c, Subdivision 14 (restrictions on Level
3 sex offenders and certain offenders whose victims were minors),
Social Services Law § 20 (restrictions on homeless level
2 and 3 offenders seeking shelter), or any state legislation enacted
in the future that may restrict the residence, work and/or travel
of Level 2 and/or Level 3 sex offenders.
A sex offender, as herein defined, entering or remaining within
a child safety zone does not commit a violation of this chapter if
any of the following apply:
A. The sex offender is serving a sentence at a jail, prison, juvenile
facility or other correctional institution or facility or is an inpatient
in a hospital, hospice, mental health facility or nursing home. However,
this exception does not apply to an individual who initiates or maintains
contact with a minor within that child safety zone.
B. The sex offender established his/her employment prior to the effective
date of this chapter, which was filed with New York State on April
2, 2007, or prior to the establishment of a newly located child safety
zone. However, this exception does not apply to an individual who
initiates or maintains contact with a minor within that child safety
zone other than for purposes relating to schooling. In such case,
the parent(s) or legal guardian of the minor contacted must be informed
of the contact.
C. The sex offender only intermittently or sporadically enters a child
safety zone for the purposes of work. However, this exception does
not apply to an individual who initiates or maintains contact with
a minor within that child safety zone.
D. The sex offender shall only be permitted to drive past or through a designated school bus stop and those areas as defined in the definition of "child safety zone" in §
132-2 for the purposes of traveling. Under NO circumstance shall a sex offender be allowed to initiate or maintain contact with any child while driving past or through a designated school bus stop and those areas as defined in the the definition of "child safety zone" in §
132-2.
E. The sex offender is a minor or a ward under a guardianship. However,
this exception does not apply to an individual who initiates or maintains
contact with a minor within that child safety zone.
F. The sex offender enters a child safety zone for the purposes of exercising
the right to vote. However, this exception does not apply to an individual
who initiates or maintains contact with a minor within that child
safety zone.
Any sex offender who resides or is employed in a "child safety zone" as defined in the definition of "child safety zone" in §
132-2 in violation of this chapter shall have six months from receipt of written notice of the prohibition set forth herein to move or change employment. Failure to move his or her residence or employment to a location which is in compliance with this section within that time period shall constitute a violation of this section.
The first violation of the provisions of this chapter shall
be a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a fine of up to $500 and imprisonment
of up to three months in jail. A second or subsequent violation shall
be a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of up to $1,000 and
imprisonment of up to one year in jail.
The restrictions outlined in §
132-3 shall cease when the sex offender is no longer required to register and/or verify pursuant to § 168 of the New York State Correction Law, the Sex Offender Registration Act.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or
part of this chapter or the application thereof to any person, individual,
corporation, firm, partnership, entity or circumstance shall be adjudged
by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional,
such order or judgment shall not affect, impair, effect or invalidate
the remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the
clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section or part of this
law or in its application to the person, individual, corporation,
firm, partnership, entity or circumstance directly involved in the
controversy in which such order or judgment shall be rendered.