New law limits where sex offenders live

Gov. Sanford signs bill into law Monday to keep criminals away from schools

COLUMBIA — Sex offenders won't be able to live within 1,000 feet of schools, day care centers or playgrounds under legislation Gov. Mark Sanford signed into law Monday night.

Sanford applauded the bill, but knocked a provision that lightens penalties for sex offenders who don't tell sheriffs where they live. It was one of 29 bills the Legislature left behind when it adjourned two weeks ago. Sanford had to act on that stack before midnight.

"We believe this is a commonsense measure for safeguarding our state's children," Sanford wrote, noting that local governments had passed a patchwork of laws on their own and the state needed to be consistent. "We also believe this legislation will deter sex offenders from relocating from neighboring states to South Carolina.

The bill says convicts can't live within 1,000 feet of schools, day care centers or playgrounds. It doesn't apply to people who already lived within that limit before the measure became law. And it doesn't force newly convicted people to move.

The bill also changes a three-year-old law that imposed a 90-day jail sentence when sex offenders fail to register with a sheriff or report an address change. It allows a $500 fine and no more than 30 days in jail. And, unlike the old law, the change would allow judges to suspend those penalties. State Sen. Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, said he offered the change at the request of prosecutors who believe the lesser punishments will be assessed more quickly and without jamming up their calendars.

The Legislature left intact repeat-offender penalties on the registration law. A second offense brings a mandatory one-year prison term that judges can't suspend. A third offense brings five years with a minimum of three years in prison.

Sanford said he understood what prosecutors wanted, but he said "the good of the bill is offset" by that change. He said he relied on promises from the bill's sponsors and others that the Legislature would increase the penalty next year.

Sanford also vetoed a handful of bills, including one that would have added special penalties for assaults on sport officials and coaches.

"It is a sorry commentary on society at large when a bill like this even needs to be debated, but it does, given the fact that attacks have taken place," Sanford wrote in his veto.

While he thinks such attacks are "wrong and deserving of our greatest condemnation and prosecution under the law," Sanford said the bill "sets a dangerous precedent of carving out a special status for coaches and officials that other citizens don't enjoy."

Among the other bills Sanford signed:

--Limits on how long administrative law judges have to review and decide challenges for environmental permits; and

--A $500 fine for parents who let unlicensed children drive.

--Sanford also vetoed:

--Expanded tax credits for people who redevelop old textile mills; and

--An overhaul of state prison laws, mostly because it contained a provision urging the Corrections Department to place inmates closer to their family's homes.

The Legislature returns next week to take up Sanford's vetoes and act on compromise legislation worked out in conference committees.