PARTIES VIE TO BE TOUGH ON SEX CRIME.

Byline: Steve Geissinger Staff Writer

SACRAMENTO - Democrats and Republicans have launched competing efforts to crack down on sex offenders, igniting an increasingly fierce battle of partisan politics.

Legislation by Assemblyman Mark Leno, D-San Francisco, would require tougher penalties for sex offenses and make it easier to file charges for possession of child pornography.

But the bill faces Republican opposition in the Senate later this month as Sen. George Runner, R-Lancaster, and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, seek to push a GOP ballot initiative on the issue.

Currently in the signature-gathering process to qualify for the November ballot, the initiative measure would prohibit sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park after release and would require lifetime satellite monitoring of all sex felons.

The initiative proposal would also increase penalties, as for those who lure minors through the Internet - a provision Democrats did not include in their measure.

Republicans have attacked the Democratic bill as an election-year attempt to undermine their initiative, while Democrats claim Republicans are opposing their bill in a bid to position themselves for political points.

Republican lawmakers argue the Democratic effort is not as tough as their initiative, especially on tracking registered offenders.

Democrats were forced to drop $23 million toward a Global Positioning System or GPS tracking system and for special law enforcement teams from their bill in order to get it passed through the Assembly along party lines.

Still, the legislation would increase prison terms for pedophiles, ban certain parolees from school campuses and provide relapse prevention treatment for incarcerated high-risk offenders.

Steve Geissinger, [phone]

sgeissinger(at)angnewspapers.com