Alabama Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced on July 12, 1996, that the state's version of Megan's Law, the Community Notification Act, bars convicted sex criminals from residing with all minors, including their own children.

OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL

96-00259

JEFF SESSIONS
ATTORNEY GENERAL
STATE OF ALABAMA
JUL 12 1996

Honorable Randy Hinshaw
Member, House of Representatives
218 Constitution Drive
Meridianville, AL  35759

Community Notification Act
- Crimes and Offenses -
Sex Offenders - Notices

A criminal sex offender may not establish a legal residence with any
child 18 years old or younger.

Dear Representative Hinshaw:

This opinion is issued in response to your request for an opinion
from the Attorney General.

QUESTION

Does the Community Notification Act prohibit a criminal sex
offender from residing with a minor child who is a relative?

FACTS AND ANALYSIS

Alabama's Community Notification Act prohibits a released sex
crime offender from establishing a legal residence where a person 18
years or younger resides. Act No. 96-793, Section 3. (d):

"No released sex crime offender shall be allowed to establish a legal
residence where a person 18 years of age or younger resides, except
as elsewhere provided by law."

First, as a general rule, we act under the presumption that a
legislative act is constitutional. It is a fundamental rule of statutory
construction that the legislative intent as it is expressed in the statute
is to be ascertained and effectuated. Darks Dairy, Inc. v. Alabama
Dairy Commission, et al., 367 So.2d 1378 (Ala. 1979). The intent
of the statute is to be given effect and, if the language is clear and
unambiguous, then the statute is to be given its clear meaning.
Beavers v. County of Walker, 645 So.2d 1365 (ala. 1994); Attorney
General's opinion to William E. Shinn, dated June 3, 1992, A.G.
No. 92-00294. In applying the clear meaning of a statute, one must
look at its entire statutory scheme rather than at isolated phrases or
clauses. Ex parte Employee's Retirement Systems of Alabama, 644
So.2d 943 (Ala. 1994). The reason and necessity for the statute is
also relevant. Pace v. Armstrong World Industries, Inc., 578 So.2d
281 (Ala. 1991).

In applying these rules of construction to the Community Notification
Act, we acknowledge first that the purpose of the Act is to require
any imprisoned criminal sex offender to declare in writing the
address at which he or she will reside upon release from
incarceration. The residence declared by the sex offender before he
is released from prison becomes his legal residence for the purposes
of this Act. The residence cannot be within 1,000 feet of any public
school, private school, day care center, or any other child care
facility. The residence cannot be within 1,000 feet of any of the sex
offender's former victims.

The Act provides that the legal residence cannot be at a place where a
person 18 years of age or younger resides. There is no exception
from this prohibition for children who are relatives or over whom the
sex offender has custody.

The phrase "except as elsewhere provided by law" might be
interpreted by a court under some unforeseen, extraordinary, and
even improbable circumstances to authorize a judicial determination
and court order as an exception to the residency prohibition.
However, this phrase is not a statutory exemption for relatives or for
any other child over whom the sex offender has custody. When read
in its entirety, the Community Notification Act mandates that the
community be warned of the presence of criminal sex offenders and
prohibits sex offenders from living with children under the age of 18.
The legislature did not exclude the offender's own children or
relatives from its protection. After researching the issue, we find no
other law to the contrary.

CONCLUSION

A criminal sex offender may not establish a legal residence with any
child 18 years old or younger.

I hope this sufficiently answers your question. If our office can be
of further assistance, please contact Jane LeCroy Brannan or my
staff.


Sincerely,

JEFF SESSIONS
Attorney General
By:
/s/
JAMES R. SOLOMON, JR.
Chief, Opinions Division