Sex offender registration: unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor.

Senator Rubio, with Assembly Member Alanis as a coauthor, frames a targeted adjustment to California’s sex offender registration framework that adds a prospective requirement for a defined subset of unlawful sexual intercourse with a minor offenses. For offenses committed on or after January 1, 2026, individuals convicted of these offenses would be required to register for 10 years as tier-one offenders when the minor is more than three years younger than the offender, and when the offender is 21 or older, the minor is under 16. An exception applies if the offender was not more than 10 years older than the minor and that unlawful intercourse with a minor offense is the sole basis for registration.

Beyond this new threshold, the bill preserves the Act’s core registration mechanics: offenders must register with local law enforcement within five working days of establishing or changing residence, and campus-based registration applies if residing on campus. It maintains the three-tier structure (ten years for tier one, twenty years for tier two, life for tier three) and includes a Department of Justice designation path for cases where the appropriate tier cannot be determined immediately, with a 24-month period to finalize the tier. It also continues to toll the minimum registration period during periods of incarceration or placement, and to extend the period for failures to register. The new unlawful-sexual-intercourse-with-a-minor-related requirement is prospective and creates a state-mandated local program because it expands the scope of a crime. The measure also contains a no-reimbursement clause for local agencies.

Implementation considerations outlined in the bill include the Department of Justice’s role in tier assignment when a tier cannot be determined at once, and ongoing reporting obligations to local agencies and campus police. The proposal references a broader list of offenses that would trigger registration under the new framework and retains exemptions tied to age differences in certain circumstances. The text clarifies that the changes apply to offenses committed after the effective date, while preexisting registration obligations for offenses committed before that date remain governed by current law. In the policy context, the authors position the measure as aligning registration requirements with specified unlawful conduct involving minors, while maintaining the established registry structure and enforcement mechanisms.