Judiciary Committee advances bill restricting adult registered sex offenders from school property with multiple carve‑outs and new residency rule

The Committee on Judiciary adopted multiple amendments to House Bill 24‑04 and voted to pass the amended bill favorably for passage. The bill as amended makes it unlawful for certain adult registered sex offenders — specifically those whose underlying registrable offense involved a victim below a specified age threshold — to enter school property or attend school activities. Committee members substantially revised the measure during debate and added several carve‑outs and procedural elements.

Key points and amendments adopted in committee:

- Felony level adjustment: Rep. Osman successfully moved to lower the felony severity for a first violation from a level‑6 person felony to level‑8 (the bill retained higher levels for repeat offenses). Committee members said the change aligns penalties with comparable offenses and with some other states.

- Narrowed victim age and other scope changes: The chair and other members amended the victim‑age threshold language (the chair proposed, and the committee adopted, changing the statutory language from “less than 18” to “less than…