SPONSOR: Roberts
This bill modifies provisions relating to the sex offender registry. Instead of listing certain sexual offenses, this bill provides that any person who, since July 1, 1979, has been or is adjudicated for a tier I offense, tier II offense, or tier III offense in this State or in any other state, territory, the District of Columbia, foreign country, or Federal, tribal or military jurisdiction will be required to register as a sex offender.
Offenders will be classified as a tier I, tier II, or tier III offender. To the extent more than one tier definition applies, the highest tier will be the applicable tier for the offender. This bill also provides that certain juvenile offenders and certain offenders who live or work in Missouri with registration requirements by other jurisdictions will be assigned a tier, which will be only for the purposes of registration appearance frequency and removal eligibility. The initial determination as to the tier of an offender will be made by the registration official and the Missouri State Highway Patrol will analyze the tier designation for accuracy. If the initial tier decision is inaccurate, the Patrol's determination will control the tier classification.
This bill additionally provides that any sex offender with a primary residence outside Missouri who has a temporary residence in Missouri in which he or she resides for more than a part-time period must register for the duration of the offender's temporary residency. This bill also provides that a nonresident sex offender who works or is a nonresident student in this state must register in the county where the status requiring registration occurs for the duration of such offender's employment or attendance at any school of higher education as long as the status requiring registration remains active.
The jurisdiction, in addition to the Attorney General, can certify appropriate sex offender treatment programs for purposes of reductions of registration periods. Additionally, if records of program completion are unavailable, and completion of such program was required as a term of probation, an order discharging the sex offender from probation or other record acknowledging satisfactory completion of probation will constitute evidence of successful competition of the program, unless rebutted by evidence to the contrary. This bill modifies provisions relating to removal from registration for persons required to register because of an offense adjudicated in another jurisdiction. Such person must file the petition for removal, termination, or relief from registration, or the declaratory judgment providing for removal, termination, or relief, instead of filing petition for removal, according to the laws of the adjudicating jurisdiction. Upon the entry of a judgment, rather than a grant of a petition for removal, providing that the person is no longer required to register, such judgment can be registered in this State by providing the information required by current law. Additionally, such persons can file a petition for removal from this state’s sexual offender registry and satisfy the requirements for removal based on adjudication in another state if certain requirements specified in the bill are satisfied.
Currently, if a petition for removal is denied, no successive petition will be filed for at least five years from the judgment date of a petition. If the denial was based on a statute or law that has since been amended, repealed, or invalidated, a person can file a petition within the five-year period.
This bill repeals the provisions relating to persons removed from the sex offender registry for certain offenses that were of a nonsexual nature, as specified in the bill. The bill also modifies the list of offenses that exempts offenders who meet the other requirements provided in current law from registration. An offender will have the burden of proving the requirements for exemption are met.
The chief law enforcement registration official must enter, rather than forward to the Patrol, the completed offender registration forms and related updates into the online sex offender registry within three days. The Patrol must ensure the information entered into the registry is accessible through the Missouri Uniform Law Enforcement System and forwarded to the National Crime Information Center. The Patrol must also regularly update the web page to remove persons who have been removed or exempted, persons deceased, or persons who have moved out of state. Lastly, this bill modifies certain information related to sex offenders and the metadata of the sex offender registry that is considered as an open or closed record under Missouri Sunshine Law.
This bill is similar to SB 982 (2026).
Statutes affected: