An Assembly bill that will require sex offenders to register with campus police before coming to campus is expected to be passed into law by the California Legislature.

Assembly Bill 4 states that sex offenders who are students, employees, volunteers or anyone who will be on campus for an extended period of time must register with campus police.

Russell Lowery, spokesperson for Assemblywoman Patricia C. Bates, the author of the bill, said that this law is designed to complement current law by allowing universities to keep track of sex offenders on campus.

“This bill is designed to fill in the loophole that exists with current law,” Lowery said. “As it stands now, all convicted sex offenders are required by law to register as sex offenders with local police in the county of their primary residence.”

According to Lowery, the bill is designed to take care of that loophole by requiring that convicted sex offenders notify campus police directly of their presence on campus.

“(If) a student lives in Yolo County or anywhere in the state, but they decide to go to school in Sacramento, the college has no way of knowing that they are a convicted sex offender,” Lowery said.

Sac State will not be required to screen its students for sex offenders. If convicted sex offenders fail to register with Campus Police, it will be a felony, Lowery said.

Lowery said the bill has bipartisan support and is expected to become law and take effect on January 2002.

According to Ann Reed, spokesperson for the Sac State Public Affairs office, the university?s official position on AB4 is that it is in favor of the bill.

“We are currently watching the bill as it moves through the legislature and are backing the bill. We will work with law enforcement agencies, as we do with all sex offense laws, to ensure the implementation of AB4,” Reed said.

Sac State students also appear to be in favor of the bill.

” I believe it is a good thing for sex offenders to notify the school in order to work here or go to school here. As a woman on campus, I would feel safer,” said Sac State student Jennifer Vance.

According to Jennifer Boyer, another student, the bill is a precautionary measure to protect the students.

“Anybody that has committed a sex crime, against a man or a woman, should be made known,” Boyer said.