Bill gives apt. owners right to turn away sex offenders/CA
Bill gives apartment owners right to turn away sex offenders By Jim Wasserman -- Bee Staff Writer Published 12:33 pm PDT Monday, April 24, 2006 California apartment owners would gain rights to ask prospective tenants if they are registered sex offenders and deny them apartments under a bill getting its first hearing Tuesday in the state Legislature. The bill, which also allows landlords to evict tenants for misrepresentation if they aren’t truthful, is scheduled for a 9 a.m. hearing Tuesday in the Assembly Judiciary Committee. The legislation marks the newest attempt by landlords across California to manuever between tenants frightened by registered sex offenders in their midst and laws that ban apartment owners from discriminating when renting. The California Apartment Association, which sponsored the bill, say state law prevents them from using California’s Megan’s Law database of registered sex offenders to screen tenants or warn other residents of those who already live in an apartment complex. Nor can landlords evict sex offenders if tenants with children find them living nearby. The apartment association bill, carried by Assemblywoman Nicole Parra, D-Hanford, says registered sex offenders will no longer be considered part of any protected class when applying for an apartment or fighting an eviction. That frees landlords to deny apartments or evict sex offenders without running afoul of fair-housing discrimination claims. http://www.sacbee.com/content/breakingnews/story/14247261p-15064936c.html