A new bill proposed by Assemblymember Mike Miller will make it illegal for employers to hire registered sex offenders for jobs that involve being close to children.
“This isn’t the first bill to protect our children from sex offenders but I think it’s the best bill,” said Miller. “This proposal will hold employers accountable with the hope of making it impossible for sex offenders to work with our children.”
Miller is working closely with his Assembly aides on the legislation after a recent discovery in February that found a former sex offender running a Glendale karate school.
The culprit, Edwin Rodriguez, was teaching classes at Gem Shotokan Karate near the intersection of Myrtle and Cooper Avenues. He was arrested nine years ago for sexually abusing an 11-year-old girl. According to Fox 5 News, Rodriguez is deemed a level 2 sex offender, meaning he is a “medium” risk. He is required to register where he lives, but not where he works.
A similar bill by Senator Frank Padavan was introduced to the Senate in February, making it illegal for sex offenders of any level to seek employment or volunteer in fields that put them in close contact with children. Although Miller supports the bill, he is seeking better solutions.
“The Senate bill has good intentions,” Miller said. “But it creates a loophole. People could continue hiring registered sex offenders and there would be no way of knowing about it or enforcing it.”
Miller’s bill requests that employers hiring new staff who will be in close contact with children must check their name against the New York State Sex Offender Registry and the Statewide Central Registry of Child Abuse and Maltreatment or face a penalty. Miller added that hiring someone who has committed such “monstrous acts” to work with children is unacceptable.
Under the current state law, aspiring teachers and school bus drivers must go through fingerprinting and background checks; being on the sex offender registry prohibits them from those careers. However, most other jobs that entail a substantial amount of exposure with children do not require those protections.
“We already do background checks for teachers, why not do background checks for every profession that puts someone in close contact with children?” Miller said. This is a matter of common sense.”
