46 cities face challenge to sex-offender residency laws

AUSTIN — Forty-six small cities across Texas are facing a new legal challenge to their ordinances that regulate where registered sex offenders can live, including several in the Houston area.

Texas Voices for Reason and Justice, a statewide criminal-justice advocacy group, announced Monday it has” initiated action to compel, through litigation if necessary,” the repeal of the ordinances in so-called “general law” cities — the latest challenge to the residency limitations in Texas and across the country.

In 2007, then-Attorney General Greg Abbott clarified that under a state law that “general law” cities with a population of 5,000 residents or less from enacting local ordinances that regulate where registered sex offenders can live, according to the group.

“These cities are attempting to justify violating the Texas Constitution by relying on a universally discredited myth that residency restrictions will actually improve public safety,” said Mary Sue Molnar, the group’s executive director.

“We know from experience in other states that residency restrictions do absolutely nothing to make children safer, that they have forced thousands of registrants into homelessness, that they have forced entire families to relocate, and that they have wasted an enormous amount of public resources that could have been appropriately expended elsewhere,” said Mary Sue Molnar, the group’s executive director.

“Research conducted by law enforcement and criminologists has established that, without exception, sex offender residency restriction ordinances do much more harm than good when it comes to making local communities safer for children.”

Krum, a city near Denton, already has been sued and has asked the Second Court of Appeals to allow it to keep its ordinance intact, and Alvarado near Fort Worth is considering a repeal of its ordinance after a separate challenge.

Acccording to the organization,the 46 Texas “general law” cities that have received the group’s notice are: Archer City (Archer Co.); Argyle (Denton Co.); Balcones Heights (Bexar Co.); Brazoria (Brazoria Co.); Bullard (Cherokee Co.); Chandler (Henderson Co.); Clear Lake Shores (Galveston Co.); Cottonwood Shores (Burnet Co.); Eagle Lake (Colorado Co.); El Lago (Harris Co.); Farmersville (Collin Co.); Fulton (Aransas Co.); Goliad (Goliad Co.); Gunter (Grayson Co.); Hamlin (Jones Co.); Henrietta (Clay Co.); Hickory Creek (Denton Co.); Hollywood Park (Bexar Co.); Hubbard (Hill Co.); Jamaica Beach (Galveston Co.); Justin (Denton Co.); Maypearl (Ellis Co.); Meadows Place (Fort Bend Co.); Milano (Milam Co.); Mount Enterprise (Rusk Co.); Mount Vernon (Franklin Co.); Oak Point (Denton Co.); Oak Ridge (Cooke Co.); Orchard (Fort Bend Co.); Ponder (Denton Co.); Pottsboro (Grayson Co.); Rhome (Wise Co.); Saint Jo (Montague Co.); San Saba (San Saba Co.); Shiner (Lavaca Co.); Springtown (Parker Co.); Sunnyvale (Dallas Co.); Van Horn (Culberson Co.); West (McLennan Co.); West Lake Hills (Travis Co.); Westworth Village (Tarrant Co.); Whitewright (Grayson Co.); Whitney (Hill Co.); Winona (Smith Co.); Winters (Runnels Co.), and Woodville (Tyler Co.).