Waukesha - Waukesha Mayor Larry Nelson will ask the Common Council on Tuesday to join the outcry from local officials objecting to proposed state legislation that would pre-empt municipal sex offender residency restrictions.
Waukesha, like many other communities, adopted an ordinance in late 2007 that creates a 750-foot buffer around parks, schools, day-care centers, the central business district and recreation trails where registered sex offenders are barred from living. Some communities have adopted more restrictive limits, and others have no restrictions. Nelson called Waukesha's law a reasonable one.
State legislators have proposed bills that would prohibit those ordinances from being enforced and new ones from being created. One sponsor, Rep. Fred Kessler (D-Milwaukee), said he thinks the Department of Corrections should apply a uniform residency restriction statewide, and a public hearing was held on the Assembly bill last week. Local governments are mobilizing against the proposals.
Nelson, in a letter to the Common Council, said the bills would not only interfere with, but would actually eliminate the city's right to self-governance on a matter designed for the public's safety, protection and welfare.