Franklin

State law imposes an annual registration requirement on certain sex offenders while they reside or are located in California. (Pen. Code, § 290, subd. (a)(1)(A), (C).) 1 Offenders subject to registration must also notify authorities of any change of their address. (§ 290, subd. (f)(1).) A 1998 amendment to section 290, adding subdivision (f)(1), specifically requires offenders to give change-of-address notification on leaving California. (Stats. 1998, ch. 930, § 1.1.)

Defendant in the present case failed to notify the California authorities with whom he had initially registered under section 290 that he and his wife *251 had moved from California to Texas on May 1, 1995. The trial court found him guilty of violating the notification provisions of the state registration law then in effect (§ 290, former subd. (f)), and also found true two prior “strike” allegations (§§ 667, subds. (b)-(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)), arising out of two sex offenses he committed in 1985. Accordingly, the court sentenced defendant to state prison for 25 years to life for failing to comply with the registration statute. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment. We granted review.

We consider…

Undoubtedly, Penal Code section 290 1 would benefit from a substantial rewriting. I cannot agree, however, that subdivision (f), read in conjunction with subdivision (a)(1), is fatally ambiguous or did not adequately inform defendant of the obligation to notify authorities of his change of address *257 when he moved to Texas. To reach a contrary conclusion, the majority has resorted to linguistic contortions only a sophist could love and disregarded the only reasonable interpretation of the statutory language. Worse yet, it has construed section 290(a)(1) to undermine the Legislature’s recent amendment to section 290(f), which would otherwise have placed beyond cavil the duty to notify of any change of address regardless of the registrant’s new location. (See Stats. 1998, eh. 930, § 1.1.)

Section 290(f) provided in relevant part: “If any person who is required to register pursuant to this section changes his or her residence address, the person shall inform, in writing within 10 days, the law enforcement agency or agencies with whom he or she last registered of the new address.” (See fn. 1, ante.) The majority’s construction of this provision to absolve defendant of his…

State law imposes an annual registration requirement on certain sex offenders while they reside or are located in California. (Pen.Code, § 290, subd. (a)(1)(A),(C.) [1] Offenders subject to registration must also notify authorities of any change of their address. (§ 290, subd. (f)(1).) A 1998 amendment to section 290, adding subdivision (f)(1), specifically requires offenders to give change-of-address notification on leaving California. (Stats.1998, ch. 930, § 1.1.)

Defendant in the present case failed to notify the California authorities with whom he had initially registered under section 290 that he and his wife had moved from California to Texas on May 1, 1995. The trial court found him guilty of violating the notification provisions of the state registration law then in effect (§ 290, former subd. (f)), and also found true two prior "strike" allegations (§§ 667, subds.(b)-(i), 1170.12, subds. (a)-(d)), arising out of two sex offenses he committed in 1985. Accordingly, the court sentenced defendant to state prison for 25 years to life for failing to comply with the registration statute. The Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment. We granted review.

We consider…