Strengthening Sex Offender Registration Laws, Requiring All Contractors to Conduct Employee Background Checks and Improving Coordination and Management of Sex Offender Registry among Top Priorities

Palo Alto, CA -- Today, Democratic Attorney General candidate Chris Kelly released a policy platform: "Strengthening Sex Offender Laws & Management," to create safer communities for children and their parents by strengthening California's sex offenders law and organizational structure. The plan will strengthen California's sex offenders registry by requiring sex offenders to hand over their email and online identities and aliases and supporting Chelsea's Law; altering Contractors State Licensing Board qualifications; barring sex offenders from working in home construction; and working with the California Sex Offender Management Board to streamline the management of sex offenders in California.

"With my background as a policy advisor to President Bill Clinton, my experience working with Attorneys General from around the country, and my record of keeping the internet safe from sexual predators while chief counsel of Facebook, I will be ready on day-one to strengthen sex offender laws and management through tough, innovative approaches. I will work to prevent sex offenders from committing criminal acts through smart, effective policies that address the roots of criminal activity and help keep our communities safe," said Kelly.

An attorney and businessman, Kelly brings the right mix of experience in public policy, technology and law to fight traditional crime and combat new crimes of today -- like identity theft and online sexual predators. After graduating from Harvard Law School, Kelly worked for a federal judge assisting on a wide range of criminal and civil cases, including drug smuggling and money laundering. Kelly then came home to work for a Palo Alto law firm, representing innovators and entrepreneurs, including Netscape in the Microsoft anti-trust case.

In the 1990's, he served as a domestic policy advisor to President Clinton. During his time at the White House, Kelly helped to advance the landmark plan that put 100,000 new community police officers on America's streets. As chief legal counsel at Facebook, Kelly led efforts to protect the safety and security of the online community.

As Attorney General, Kelly will create safer communities by:

Strengthening California Sex Offenders Registration Law To Include All Online Identities & Aliases. According to the California Sex Offender Management Board, California, as the most populous state, has one of the largest populations of sex offenders in the nation. Over the last fifteen years, the Internet has become a place where many Californians connect with families, friends, obtain news and information, but it has also become a place where sex offenders prey. As the former Chief Privacy Officer at Facebook, I advocated measures to help protect Californians online and to restrict access for sex offenders to social networking sites.

In 2008, I worked with the Attorney General of the state of New York to pass a tough law to protect children online-the Electronic Security and Targeting of Online Predators Act (e-STOP) eliminated 3,500 sex offenders from MySpace and Facebook. The law requires sex offenders to register their online aliases and email addresses with the state law enforcement officials. E-STOP was used as a model for the Federal KIDS Act, but the requirement to collect electronic identifiers has not yet been implemented by most states, including California. California should implement an e-STOP program to not only ban sex offenders from social networking sites, but to also require sex offenders to hand over their email addresses and all online aliases. As Attorney General I will push the Legislature to adopt an e-STOP program to put the strongest protections in place to ensure that our children are safe from online sexual predators.

Requiring All California Contractors To Conduct Employee Background Checks. In 2006, the California state legislature passed a bill that states that convicted child sex offenders cannot work in a setting alone where there are children. This was a good first step to keep predators out of schools and child care and other areas working with children. However, we must ensure sex offenders stay away from our children and out of our homes. To do so, the state of California should require that all contractors conduct employee background checks as is permissible under the Fair Credit Reporting Act. The Fair Credit Reporting Act allows employers to conduct background checks via consumer reporting agencies that pull together and report all records that are publicly available. As Attorney General, I will push for new background check requirements for contractors to prevent convicted sex offenders from working inside the home and near children.

Reforming Contractors State Licensing Board Qualifications. The California State Licensing Board Qualifications needs to institute procedural regulations that prevent any convicted sex offender from obtaining a legal contractor's license that can be used for in-home construction. Contractors in the state of California have to register with the Contractors State Licensing Board to legally do any construction business that is worth more than $500 in labor and materials. Contractors not only have to get licensed, but they need at least four years of experience/education, to be bonded and undergo a FBI background check. Contractors are used for a variety of different purposes from home remodels to large-scale construction projects. To ensure that construction work happens in a safe, competent and professional manner and to further protect the families of California, we need to reform the Contractors State Licensing Board background check qualifications to bar convicted sex offenders from obtaining a contractor's license. Presently, the Contractors State Licensing Board background check allows people convicted to explain and show that they have been rehabilitated and are able to work in construction. Each background check is analyzed on a case by case basis. As demonstrated by the case of registered sex offender, John Albert Gardner, the man who recently pleaded guilty to killing and raping Chelsea King and Amber Dubois, parents cannot rely on the uncertainty of whether a particular sex offender has been rehabilitated. To ensure the protection of our children, we need to explicitly bar sex offenders from any chance of working in a home or near children. As Attorney General, I will push for reforming the Contractors State Licensing Board to explicitly ban anyone that is a convicted sex offender from getting a contractor's license that can be used for in-home construction.

Supporting Chelsea's Law & Delivering Aggressive Enforcement Once Passed. On February 25, 2010, teenager Chelsea King vanished while on a run in Rancho Bernardo Community Park. Chelsea's body was found less than a week later in a shallow grave. John Albert Gardner, III, a registered and convicted sex offender was charged with murdering Chelsea while violating conditions of his parole. We need to strengthen California's sex offender laws so that situations like this never happen again. I am proud to support Chelsea's Law-it is a much-needed step in the right direction. Chelsea's Law will increase penalties for sex offenders, including: for first-time offenses against children under 18, increasing sentences from 15 years to 25 years in prison; life sentences for those who commit forcible sex crimes against those younger than 18 when there are aggravating circumstances such as torture and kidnapping; increasing parole from 5 years to 10 years; and those that are convicted of crimes against children younger than 14 would get lifetime parole with electronic monitoring. Once Chelsea's Law passes, as Attorney General, I will aggressively enforce and prosecute under this new law.

Improving Coordination of Sex Offenders Registry and Management of Sex Offenders. The California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) was established to identify problems with California's current community management of sex offenders and recommend ways to help solve those problems. One of the primary findings by CASOMB was that California's sex offender laws overlap, creating a fragmented and difficult system to navigate when enforcing sex offender laws and registration. One of the recommendations by CASOMB to more successfully manage sex offenders is for California to better coordinate the monitoring of high- and moderate-risk sex offenders to ensure that they are actually registered, that resources are being directed at high-risk offenders, and that violators are being actively pursued by law enforcement. As Attorney General, I will push for improving the coordination of the sex offender registry to ensure that high- and moderate-risk offenders are being registered and properly monitored.

Clarifying California's Sex Offender Residency Restrictions. The California Sex Offender Management Board called California's sex offender residency restrictions a "central crisis" and the most serious issue of sex offender management. The problem lies in a complex and overlapping set of laws stipulating where sex offenders can and cannot live, making it difficult to ascertain where sex offenders can live without violating local zoning ordinances. The Justice Research and Policy Association published findings that some zoning laws have pushed sex offenders from urban areas to more rural ones, where they have less access to treatment and become more transient. As a result, if sex offenders cannot find appropriate housing, the likelihood of homelessness and convicted sex offenders taking shelter in public places such as street alleys, highway underpasses or even local school yards increases significantly. This creates new public safety concerns for law enforcement officials and communities. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, there are roughly 2300 homeless sex offenders in California, which is a public safety risk. As Attorney General, I will work closely with local officials, law enforcement and the Legislature to monitor the effectiveness and success of local and state ordinances and zoning laws that prevent convicted sex offenders from living, working or loitering near places where children frequent.

The full plan is available for download at http://kelly2010.com/sexoffenders.