California Sex Offender Registration: Tiers, Rules, and Removal

California sex offender registration is governed by Penal Code 290 and, since January 1, 2021, runs on a three-tier system that sets a minimum number of years you must stay on the registry based on your offense. You register in person with local law enforcement, update every year around your birthday, report certain changes within five working days, and risk a new criminal charge for any missed deadline. Most registrants now have a path off the registry; a smaller group convicted of the most serious offenses do not.

The Three Tiers and How Long You Register

Senate Bill 384 replaced blanket lifetime registration with tiers tied to offense severity.¹ Your tier controls the minimum time you must register before you can even ask to be removed.

Tier 1 — 10 years. Lower-level offenses such as misdemeanor sexual battery and indecent exposure.
Tier 2 — 20 years. Mid-level offenses such as lewd acts with a minor under 14 and certain non-forcible sex crimes.
Tier 3 — lifetime. The most serious offenses, including rape and sex crimes involving force or violence.

One wrinkle matters. The California Department of Justice runs risk assessments that can place someone in Tier 3 even when the underlying offense would otherwise sit lower. Registrants placed in Tier 3 solely by risk assessment face a 20-year minimum and can eventually petition for removal. Registrants placed in Tier 3 by the offense itself cannot petition at all.¹

Who Must Register

Penal Code 290 lists the qualifying offenses, which span from misdemeanors like indecent exposure to serious felonies like rape and child molestation. Registration applies regardless of sentence: state prison, county jail, probation, or no custody at all.²

If you were convicted in another state or under federal law, you must register in California if you live, work, or attend school here. Out-of-state residents working in California for more than 14 days, or more than 30 total days in a calendar year, must register with the agency where they work or go to school.³ Whether an out-of-state offense qualifies turns on whether the same conduct would be registrable if committed in California.

Juveniles discharged from the Division of Juvenile Justice after being adjudicated for certain serious sex offenses register for shorter periods: five years for Tier 1, 10 years for Tier 2.⁴ Juvenile registrants are kept off the public Megan’s Law website.

How Initial Registration Works

You appear in person at the law enforcement agency with jurisdiction over your residence. The deadline is five working days from release from custody, from sentencing if you aren’t incarcerated, or from arriving in California.² Missing that window is itself a crime.

You provide your name, address, date of birth, employer name and work address, a current photograph, fingerprints, vehicle plate numbers, and proof of residence such as a California ID or a recent utility bill. If you have no residence and no reasonable expectation of obtaining one, you sign a statement to that effect and are still allowed to register. Anyone convicted of a felony sex offense must also submit a DNA sample.⁵

Ongoing Requirements

Annual Birthday Update

Every registrant must update annually, in person, within five working days before or after their birthday, whether or not anything has changed. This catches people off guard because the duty is unconditional: same address, same job, same everything, you still show up.⁶

Moves and Address Changes

Any change of residence requires an update within five working days, whether you move across town, to another county, or out of state.² If you leave California, notify both California authorities and law enforcement in your new state.

School and Work

If you enroll at or work for any California college, university, community college, or trade school, register separately with campus police within five working days of starting, even for unpaid or volunteer roles. When you stop attending or working there, you have five working days to report that too.⁷ If the school has no campus police, you register with the local city police or county sheriff.

No Fixed Address

Registrants without a fixed address update every 30 days, reporting their current location. Sexually violent predators update every 90 days.⁶ Any change in transient status, such as obtaining a fixed address, must be reported within five working days.⁸

What Shows on the Public Megan’s Law Site

How much the public can see depends on the tier. For Tier 3 registrants and those convicted of certain serious offenses, the website displays name, aliases, photograph, physical description, date of birth, criminal history, home address, and risk assessment score.⁹ For Tier 2 registrants, the site shows similar identifying information but lists only the community of residence and ZIP code. Juvenile registrants are excluded from the public site entirely.

Residency Restrictions

Proposition 83 (Jessica’s Law) once barred all registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of any school or park. A California court struck that blanket restriction down as unconstitutional in 2015, and a 2016 appellate ruling held it also cannot be imposed as a blanket probation condition. The 2,000-foot rule now applies only when a court or parole authority imposes it as an individual condition based on a specific person’s risk and history. Local ordinances can add their own restrictions, so ask your registering agency about any location-specific rules before signing a lease.

International Travel

You must notify your registering agency at least 21 days before leaving the United States. The agency forwards the details to the U.S. Marshals Service, which shares the information with INTERPOL and law enforcement in the destination country.¹⁰ The notification covers your full itinerary, travel dates, purpose of travel, flight or ship numbers, and contact information at your destination.

Under the International Megan’s Law, anyone convicted of a sex offense against a minor who is currently required to register must carry a passport bearing a unique identifier stating that the bearer was convicted of a sex offense against a minor.¹¹ The State Department will not issue an unmarked passport to a covered registrant. Destination countries can use that marker to deny entry.

Petitioning for Removal

Tier 1 and Tier 2 registrants can petition for removal after completing 10 and 20 years, respectively. Tier 3 registrants placed in that tier solely by risk assessment can petition after 20 years. Offense-based Tier 3 registrants cannot petition.¹

You file the petition in the superior court of the county where you are registered. The court weighs the nature and facts of the original offense, the age and number of victims, whether any victim was a stranger, your behavior since conviction, completion of any certified sex offender treatment program, and your current scores on standardized risk assessment tools. The prosecution can oppose the petition with evidence that community safety would be harmed by ending registration. If the court denies the petition, it may set a waiting period before you can refile.

A Certificate of Rehabilitation on its own does not remove you from the registry; it can contribute only when combined with relief under Penal Code 290.5, and people convicted of certain sex offenses against minors are not eligible for one at all. A governor’s pardon can end registration, but pardons for sex offenses are exceedingly rare.

Penalties for Failing to Register

Consequences for missing any registration requirement follow the level of your underlying conviction. If the original offense was a misdemeanor, failing to register or update is a misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in county jail. If the original offense was a felony, noncompliance is a felony carrying 16 months, two years, or three years in state prison.¹² A prior failure-to-register conviction elevates any later registration violation to a felony, even if the underlying sex offense was a misdemeanor.

Campus registration violations under Penal Code 290.01 have their own schedule. A first offense is a misdemeanor with a fine of up to $1,000. A second offense adds up to six months in county jail. A third or later offense can bring up to one year in jail plus the $1,000 fine.⁷

A registration violation can also trigger parole or probation revocation, adding custody time and tighter supervision. Law enforcement actively pursues registrants who miss deadlines, and arrest warrants are routine. Your obligations are given to you in writing at sentencing and again at release, and courts give little weight to claims of not knowing.

1
California Department of Justice. California Tiered Sex Offender Registration (Senate Bill 384) For Registrants
2
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 290 – Sex Offender Registration Act
3
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 290.002
4
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 290.008
5
California Department of Justice. Qualifying Offenses Requiring DNA Submission
6
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Registration Requirements
7
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 290.01
8
Megan’s Law Website. Summary of California Registration Laws
9
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 290.46
10
Office of Justice Programs. SORNA – Information Required for Notice of International Travel
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 22 USC 212b
12
California Legislative Information. California Penal Code 290.018