Sponsor Statement for HB 252

This Bill is offered to intensify sex offender and kidnapper registration statutes and the registration process in order to better protect our citizens from convicted criminals. Numbers of citizens will be protected, including vulnerable adults and children of all ages.

The intent here is to comply with recent changes to the law including Department of Justice, Office of the Attorney General, Proposed Guidelines, Megan’s Law, Jacob Wetterling Act, The Pam Lychner Act and others and remain eligible for the $200,000 in Byrne Formula Grant funds for states that comply with these Acts.

This Bill allows that:

• A two (2) tier system is put in place for offenders that fail to register, fail to register properly or fail to re-register would be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor for a first offense. Failure of an offender to register properly or fail to re-register a second time would result in a Class C felony. Except an offender would be guilty of a Class C felony if such non-compliance is perpetrated to avoid detection or if that period of non-compliance is one (1) year or more in duration.
• Persons responsible for hiring and employing people for hiring and employing people will have access to current and past criminal histories.
• An offender registers while in the last 30 days of the sentence thus eliminating the opportunity to fail to register and provides for a dramatic reduction in reporting times for re-registration and change of address. Provides for annual and quarterly verifications of a sex offender or child kidnaper.
• The length of time a sex offender or a child kidnapper must register in order to meet requirements of 42 U.S.C. 14071 is adjusted and requires the Department of Public Safety to notify the Federal Bureau of Investigation if a sex offender or child kidnapper does not register or cannot be found or if such person moves to another state, the FBI and the other state are notified.