Laws Tighten Rules for Sex Offenders

The measures, signed seven weeks before voters will decide on a ballot initiative offering similar provisions, also require that sex offenders deemed high-risk by authorities wear electronic tracking devices while on parole.

Backers said the new laws give California the nation's toughest restrictions on sex offenders, a category of felons facing an expanding national crackdown spawned by several high-profile crimes.

Schwarzenegger, flanked at a Capitol signing ceremony by a bipartisan group of legislators and police, said the bills will "help us fight sexual predators and make our state a safer place to live and raise our families."

The new laws, Schwarzenegger added, will "keep the worst of the worst locked up and

The broadest measure in the package, SB 1128 by state Sen. Elaine Alquist (D-Santa Clara), would increase the penalty for child rape to 25 years to life in prison.

It also would allow possession of child pornography to be charged as a felony, extend prison sentences for Internet luring and lengthen parole terms for violent ex-felons to 10 years.

Other bills would require registered sex offenders to disclose their registration status when applying for certain jobs and would create a Sex Offender Management Board to help oversee the controversial population.

Analysts say the legislation will cost the state more than $200 million annually, largely by expanding the prison population and requiring more parole agents to monitor ex-offenders for longer periods of time.

The bill signing follows a period of bitter rhetoric and partisan jockeying over the sex offender issue in Sacramento as Schwarzenegger is up for reelection and 100 of 120 legislative seats are on the ballot. At hearings on the subject earlier this year, some Republicans called Democrats "pro-criminal," while other legislators spoke emotionally of their own molestations and the need for tougher punishment.

The Alquist bill, which cleared the Legislature without a single "no" vote, was put forth by Democrats after Republicans failed to win passage of their version. Frustrated, two GOP legislators launched a bid to qualify their version for the November ballot, resulting in Proposition 83, dubbed "Jessica's Law" by proponents.