There are various versions of "Megan's Law" throughout the country. These laws are named after Megan Kanka, a New Jersey girl who was raped and killed by a known child molester who had moved across the street from the family without their knowledge. As a result of that terrible incident, the Kankas worked for the adoption of laws that would provide communities with knowledge of the whereabouts of known sex offenders. Every state has some form of Megan's law.

Under the California version that came into effect in 1996, people could access information regarding the whereabouts of registered sex offenders by going to a police or sheriff's station, or by calling a 900 number. Moreover, notice of this information availability was required by law to be contained in real estate purchase and rental contracts.

Unfortunately, in most cases (there was some variance among jurisdictions) the information available was extremely limited. You might be able to find out how many registered sex offenders lived in a given zip code, but you probably couldn't learn either their names or addresses.

Undoubtedly there will be real estate transactions that die as a result of California's newly-expanded version of Megan's Law. But that's OK. For some time, many have felt that such an expansion was needed. It finally came to pass in September, when Governor Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 488 (Parra) into law.

The new law both expands the range of information available and it greatly increases ease of access to the information. As the California Legislative Counsel's Digest puts it, the law requires "…the Department of Justice, on or before July 1, 2005 to make specified information about certain sex offenders available to the public via [an] Internet Web site and to update that information on an ongoing basis. This information would include all of the information currently available… and would also include the home address of specified offenders…"

Not all offenders are listed. Some may be excluded on grounds such as having completed a rehabilitation program. Others may be listed as being within a certain city, but no address is given. Basically, the distinctions have to do with the seriousness of the offenses committed, and the perceived risks posed by the offenders. Obviously, these issues can pose matters of debate.

The California Department of Justice already has its web site up and running, well ahead of the required deadline. Moreover, it is considerably more than what might have met the minimum requirements. In addition to names and addresses, photos (where available), descriptions and the person's offenses are included. There is a mapping program that shows where the addresses are located. One can search the site by name, address, zip code, or map location.

The Megan's Law web address is www.meganslaw.ca.gov. It also contains general information about sexual offenders and relevant California law.

The web site is not to be used frivolously, or for harassment purposes. The penalties for doing so are serious ones. The law states that "a person is authorized to use information disclosed pursuant to this section only to protect a person at risk." [my emphasis] It is specifically prohibited for use for purposes relating to, among other things, "housing or accommodations". This would suggest that real estate agents ought not to be searching through the data base in order to advise their clients. But they will certainly want to inform their clients of its availability, should those clients have concerns of their own.

Published: December 29, 2004

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Bob Hunt is a former director of the National Association of Realtors and is author of the recently published book, "Real Estate the Ethical Way." A graduate of Princeton with a master's degree from UCLA in philosophy, Hunt has served as a U.S. Marine, Realtor association president in South Orange County, and director of the California Association of Realtors, and is an award-winning Realtor. Contact Bob at .