Twelve towns have passed ordinances to limit where sex offenders can live -- barring offenders from living near schools, or child-care centers.
But law enforcement oppose such bans. Renny Cushing of Hampton, a Democrat, told House colleagues that police know restrictions make monitoring offenders harder.
"The chiefs of police do not want to have a situation where you take away one of the tools they have which is to track where sex offenders are. And that’s also why the coalition against sexual and domestic violence is in support of this legislation."
The House has twice voted to ban such ordinances but the prohibition has never won support in the Senate.
Two courts have struck down local anti-sex offender ordinances.
In 2009 a judge in Dover ruled that the city had never shown a substantial relationship between its policy and protecting children.
In 2012 a Merrimack county judge ruled similarly in a challenge to an ordinance in Franklin.
