SEAL BEACH – Sex offenders will be banned from this town’s beaches, parks, jetties, pier and the adjacent parking lots under a new law given initial approval Monday night.

“We’re sticking up for the kids,” said Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas, urging the City Council to approve the ban that is modeled on a similar county law.

The Seal Beach City Council voted 5-0, without any discussion, to approve the law.

(On Monday, Cypress relegates registered sex offenders to a particular part of the city.)

If adopted at the next meeting, Seal Beach would join a growing number of Orange County cities that have created similar laws targeting sexual predators. They include Huntington Beach, Irvine, La Habra, Laguna Hills, Lake Forest, Los Alamitos, Mission Viejo, Rancho Santa Margarita, Westminster, Yorba Linda and the county itself.

Fullerton was the first city in Orange County to bar sex offenders from loitering within 300 feet of parks, schools and daycare centers. County Supervisor Shawn Nelson and Rackauckas last April crafted the county law barring registered sex offenders from county parks, harbors, historic sites and beaches. Some of the city ordinances are modeled after the county’s law but vary from it. Irvine, for example, passed a narrower version focusing on offenders who victimize minors.

The laws have been criticized as overly broad, unconstitutional and difficult to enforce.

In Seal Beach, there are 10 registered sex offenders, according to a staff report. Seven of the 10 live in the retired senior community of Leisure World, one lives in College Park East neighborhood and another one lives in the Hill neighborhood, north of PCH. The 10th offender is registered in the Oakwood Apartments but he no longer resides there, according to the staff report.

Called a “child safety zone,” the new law would make it a misdemeanor for registered sex offenders to enter recreational areas where children gather. A first conviction would lead to a maximum of six months in jail or a fine up to $500 or both.

California has a number of measures to protect children from sexual predators, who are required to register their addresses with law enforcement.

The laws include: Jessica’s Law, a 2006 voter-approved act that requires, among other things, all registered felony sex offenders to be monitored by a GPS device while on parole and bans them from residing within 2,000 feet of any school or park where children regularly gather; Senate Bill 1128, a 2006 law that prohibits sex offenders from entering school grounds without written permission; Chelsea’s Law, a 2010 law that includes increases in penalties, parole provisions and oversight for offenders who have attacked children.

The general public can access a sex offender database, with the addresses of registered sex offenders, at meganslaw.ca.gov.

Contact the writer: rkopetman@ocregister.com