Posted on Mon, Jun. 8, 2009
TRENTON - Just weeks after New Jersey's Supreme Court ruled that towns cannot ban sex offenders from living near schools, parks, or other places where children gather, some state lawmakers are pushing legislation that would give municipalities that right.
"The Supreme Court created a legal void that the Legislature now must attempt to fill," said Wayne DeAngelo (D., Mercer), one of the sponsors of the measure that will be considered today by the Assembly's Judiciary Committee.
The May 7 court ruling struck down ordinances in Cherry Hill and Galloway and invalidated similar laws in more than 100 other towns.
The cases highlighted Megan's Law, which requires convicted sex offenders to register their whereabouts with law enforcement, and meant local ordinances could be allowed only if lawmakers expanded that law or explicitly authorized towns to write their own rules.
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