GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin lawmaker has proposed a change in state law that would end the ability of municipalities to set their own local sex offender residency rules. The bill would create a new, statewide standard buffer of 1,000 feet between sex offenders and parks, schools and other gathering places for children. It also would require the Department of Corrections to try to place sex offenders within the municipality where they committed the crime. Republican state Rep. Joel Kleefisch says sex offenders are released without supervision in some areas after judges have ruled the local ordinances are unconstitutionally restrictive. The Green Bay City Council has drafted a resolution opposing the bill to protect the city’s 2007 ordinance banning sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of gathering places for children.
