H.B. 375 Legislative History

Utah created location restrictions for people on the sex offender registry in 2007 with HB375 sponsored by Representative Greg Hughes. In explaining the bill, Representative Hughes told the committee, "This is trying to identify…areas that would be sensitive, that we as parents, as members of the community want to make sure there's a minimum level of safety." A prosecutor helping present the bill stated, "[the bill] does say to people who have been convicted of sexual offenses there are areas you have no business being. And I think we as a public have an absolute right to demand that people who have been convicted of offenses and there ought to be areas that are simply protected. You ought to be able to take your kids to the park and not be worried about the offender who is sitting in the park." The U.S. Supreme Court has held that sex offender registries are constitutional as a civil scheme to protect the public from sex offenders. See Smith v. Doe, 538 U.S. 84 (2003).