Rep. Nicholas Mattiello, D-Cranston, right, talks with two Woonsocket representatives in the House lounge: Lisa Baldelli-Hunt, left, and Jon Brien, center. Mattiello has introduced legislation which would make it a felony for a convicted sex offender to knowingly enter a playground, daycare center or school.

The Providence Journal / Connie Grosch

PROVIDENCE –– The House Judiciary Committee is slated to vote Thursday on a bill that would make it a felony in Rhode Island for a convicted child molester to knowingly enter a playground, day-care center or school.

The proposal is either a needed protection for children or a constitutional quagmire that misses the real problem; that’s how the debate played out at a committee hearing Tuesday. Bill sponsor Rep. Nicholas A. Mattiello, D-Cranston, enlisted recent controversy over Cranston’s Harrington Hall homeless shelter, where some sex offenders were staying, roughly a quarter-mile from the Brayton Park playground and a half-mile from a school.

“There is no reason compelling enough to allow these types of individuals” to have the potential to be around children in playgrounds, day-care centers or schools, Mattiello testified. The law would apply to convicted first-degree or second-degree child molesters, who are required to register as sex offenders.

Some committee members questioned the constitutionality of the bill, speculating such an offender could be playing on an adult softball team that uses a playground.

Mattiello said, under the proposed law, the person could not play on that field.

“You know what, these people have been found guilty,” added another panel member, Rep. Peter G. Palumbo, D-Cranston, so that may mean they “can no longer play baseball.” He added it’s time to “stop worrying about the rights of sex offenders.”

Steven Brown, executive director of the Rhode Island affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, testified against the bill, saying it would not protect children because it “focuses on the wrong problem.” It is most often a family member, not a stranger on the street, who molests a child, he said. He also cited constitutional concerns.

Rep. Roberto DaSilva, D-East Providence, said the bill could run into problems on the House floor with the current language. DaSilva, who supports the bill, said there could be instances where a person “may have turned his life around.”

Mattiello said sex offenders who turn their lives around are in “the overwhelming minority.” He said he was open to language that would make an exception for when a school is a polling place.

Representatives Rodney Driver, D-Richmond, and Edith H. Ajello, D-Providence, questioned banning a rehabilitated person from attending any school events involving his or her child.

A father “couldn’t go to the graduation of his son?” Ajello asked.

“Could not,” said Mattiello.

Mattiello and Palumbo each cited the situation at Harrington Hall. The state has hired a different agency to run the shelter. The Journal has reported offenders will not be turned away if they arrive seeking a place to stay, but the shelter will not reserve space for them.

mmckinne@projo.com