NY state senator Terrance Murphy confuses "common sense" with nonsense

The NY Senate has gone to the dogs.

How many times do we have to hear the same tired rhetoric from lazy pols?

Residency restrictions have been proven ineffective time and time again.

Every time pols use idiotic terms like "no-brainer" and "common sense," I can't help but facepalm. It is a "no-brainer" alright, because those pushing this agenda lacks brains,

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/yorktown/articles/murphy-stronger-sex-offender-legislation-is-com

Murphy: Stronger Sex Offender Legislation Is ‘Common Sense’

Despite passing in the Republican-controlled Senate, Murphy said the bills have repeatedly died in the Democrat-controlled Assembly.

“The New York State Assembly is playing politics with our kids. Kids that have been victims,” Murphy said. “These are common sense measures that would be absolutely pertinent to make sure that we can protect all of our kids.”

Somers Town Supervisor Rick Morrissey agreed, saying the state legislature should be doing everything it can to protect its “most precious resources.”

“This is very important legislation and we here in Somers welcome it,” Morrissey said.

Murphy, who represents the 40th Senate District, introduced the legislation in February 2015 after a level three sex offender in Putnam County was permitted to move back next door to one of his victims, following his release from prison in 2011. The sex offender was released from prison after serving approximately 16 months in jail. Following his release, the offender, whose victims were eight and nine years old at the time the abuse took place, was permitted to reside next door to one of his victims. Murphy said the bill continues to fail because too much consideration is being given to the criminals rather than the victims.

Yorktown Town Supervisor Michael Grace called the laws a “no-brainer” and said the issue should be non-partisan.

“The number one role of government at every level is public safety, and public safety often requires a minor infringement on somebody's otherwise protected rights,” Grace said. “This type of legislation is not a huge burden on anyone's rights.”

The 2016 legislative session wrapped up in June. It will resume in January 2017.

mASSachussets State Rep Shaunna O'Connell at it again

The facts are not her priority. 

This woman hates both registered citizens and immigrants. She reminds me of a younger Valigator. This is her second appearance just this year on this blog.

I really love that the Boston Globe called Shaunna out FOR BEING WRONG. LOL.

Even funnier is the Governor's councilors slammed the bimbo, and even her fellow Repub proclaimed Shaunna "didn't do her homework." Brutal!

http://reason.com/blog/2016/08/10/judge-budd-confirmed

Judge Critical of Sex-Offender Registry Confirmed to Massachusetts High Court
Critics had argued that Kimberly Budd's criticism of sex-offender registries "render her unfit to serve as a justice."
Elizabeth Nolan Brown|Aug. 10, 2016 2:00 pm

Making a mild criticism of sex offender registries looked like it could have hurt a Massachusetts judge in her bid to serve on the state's Supreme Judicial Court. But on Wednesday the Governor's Council, an eight-member elected body responsible for approving judicial nominees, voted unanimously in favor of Superior Court Judge Kimberly Budd's nomination to serve as an associate justice.

During a grilling by the Governor's Council last week, Budd had said the state Sex Offender Registry is too expansive, ensnaring people who are far from a threat to anyone. She added that this opinion stemmed not from her "professional experience, but just hearing about people who wind up on the registry that don't necessarily need to be there and aren't really sex offenders."

As anyone who reads Reason editor Jacob Sullum or "Free Range Kids" empress Lenore Skenazy on this topic knows, Budd's is an entirely accurate statement. While registry rules vary from state to state, a growing array of offenses can land someone on the registry, leaving all sorts of non-predators on a list that people think of and lawmakers treat like a compendium of rapists and child molesters.

Budd stopped short of criticizing the registry more broadly, although the logical foundations of the registry as a whole are shaky, as there's scant evidence that perpetrators of sex crimes are more likely to re-offend than other types of offenders. Still, even the judge's suggestion that we should purge people who "aren't really sex offenders" from the list drew loud objections from some.

Going with the government-fellating, tautological tack, Rep. Shaunna O'Connell (R-Taunton) argued that "if you are on the Sex Offender Registry, you have committed a sex crime," and "it is imperative that we have justices that will defend and protect the registry." Budd's statements, said O'Connell, "render her unfit to serve as a justice." She took to talk radio and her own online platforms urging Massachusetts residents to write Governor's Council members and encourage them to reject Budd's nomination.

"The public has a right to know what dangerous sex offenders live and work in their communities," continued O'Connell, missing or intentionally obscuring Judge Budd's whole point: that the registry, in its current manifestation, represents nothing like a list of "dangerous sex offenders."

But Gov. Charlie Baker, who had nominated Budd (along with recently-approved Justices Frank Gaziano and David Lowy) to serve on the state's high court, defended Budd Tuesday. The Republican govenor said Budd would make a "terrific" justice who understands it's a judge's role to interpret the law, not legislate from the bench.

NY pols are falling all over themselves to be the first to ban registered citizens from Pokemon Go

A wild 'Tardmander appears....

I have never seen a social panic spread faster than the amount of fearmongering over Pokemon Go. It hasn't even been a full month (Pokemon Go was released on July 6 and I'm writing this piece a mere 27 days later). I've already said my share of Pokemon related puns and quite frankly, I think these NY legislatures should be kicked in their Pokeballs. 

First, Senators Jeff Klein (D-Bronx/Westchester) and Diane Savino (in the most sickening love story known to man) wrote a hilariously bad report called Pokemon NO that essentially states some spots in the augmented reality game were within a half block of a registered citizen. They followed up by making the following statements:

https://www.nysenate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/jeffrey-d-klein/pokemon-no-disturbing-investigation-finds-pokemon-popping

While children believe they are out to catch a pokémon, what might really be lurking could be a predator instead of a Pikachu. We want our children to have safe fun, but it makes no sense at all to give dangerous sexual predators a virtual road map to where our children congregate. We must update our law that already prohibits high level predators from using social media and we must make sure that gamers scrub these addresses from this game and future ones,” said Senator Klein.

“It’s dangerous to let our children linger in front of a sex offender’s home to play a game, and it’s absurd that a high-level predator should be allowed to have this map at his or her fingertips in the first place. We devised simple solutions in light of this alarming investigation to keep our laws up-to-date as technology advances,” said Senator Savino.

It is worth noting the press release equates registered citizen with pedophile, which is always grounds for nomination. 

"Because i'm this close to getting re-elected"

Then we have NY Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is trying to force the state to ban Pokemon Go from those on supervision. 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2016/08/02/new_york_governor_andrew_cuomo_bans_sex_offenders_from_playing_pokemon_go.html

Registered sex offenders in the state of New York will no longer be able to download and play Pokémon Go thanks to an order Governor Andrew Cuomo sent to the state’s Department of Corrections on Monday. In addition to prohibiting sex offenders on parole from playing Pokémon Go and other “internet-enabled gaming activities,” Cuomo sent a letter to Niantic, the game’s developer, to ask for help in keeping sex offenders out of the software.

He has also instructed the Division of Criminal Justice Services to send a database of information about New York’s registered sex offenders to Niantic in hopes that the company will prohibit those people from signing up, as Facebook has done. The governor’s directive, a new parole condition, will affect about 3,000 people. “These actions will provide safeguards for the players of these augmented reality games and help take one more tool away from those seeking to do harm to our children,” Cuomo said in a statement.

This Pokemon Go fear and hysteria has gotten way out of hand. 

Missouri Gubernatorial Candidate Catherine Hanaway believes liberal "sexual permissiveness" is to blame for CP

Here is your achetypical conservatard pandering pol comparing "sexual permissiveness" with the acceptance of sex crimes. And yet, somehow she is taken seriously.

http://www.kansascity.com/opinion/opn-columns-blogs/mary-sanchez/article9355337.html

Missouri’s Catherine Hanaway panders to conservatives, conflates permissiveness with perversion

BY MARY SANCHEZ
The Kansas City Star

Pity the politician caught on tape, hopscotching thoughts into an illogical babble.

Catherine Hanaway’s moment came at a conference last weekend in St. Louis. Her performance was a doozy.

Hanaway took aim at what she termed the liberal framework that values sexual permissiveness as evidenced by out-of-wedlock births. Then Hanaway claimed that it leads to acceptance of all “sexual preferences,” including pedophilia and child pornography.

I kid you not. This came from the woman who wishes to be Missouri’s next governor.

Hanaway began with a common conservative discourse about unmarried mothers. It is a line that conveniently misses the fact that in more than half of such births, the father is a cohabiting part of the family. But why quibble. Where she went rogue was the reach to child pornography as an offshoot of such unmarried sexuality.

This is the crazy that people reserve for friends. Hanaway spoke ideas that she felt would reverberate at the conservative event.

It isn’t that more liberal-minded people disdain marriage or dismiss correlations between out-of-wedlock births and higher rates of poverty. But they flinch at politicians who belittle single, working mothers while at the same time cutting funding for the very things that have been proved to stabilize families.

Education lifts women out of poverty and toward healthier relationships. Not preaching from a podium about morality, birthin’ babies and wedded love.

By Wednesday, snippets of Hanaway’s address showed up in an email blast for Democrat donations. The chairman of the Missouri Democratic Party labeled Hanaway as “nothing but another Todd Akin Republican.” Recall that Akin famously professed the unscientific view that a woman who has been raped can magically avoid pregnancy because her body will shut down conception.

As a former U.S. attorney, Hanaway is painfully familiar with horrendous cases of child porn. Surely she knows that Democrats find these criminal acts equally deplorable. Yet she chose to invoke single, working mothers as a battering ram, drawing a convoluted connection from them to disgusting crimes against children.

She’s right about one thing. It’s too simplistic to call her views a war on women. Rather, the approach is a far more tortured, often paternalistic and offensive view of women.

And it’s so dismaying to watch an educated woman partake in the foolishness.

And here is her original speech:

https://soundcloud.com/progress-missouri/catherine-hanaway-suggest-liberals-sexual-permissiveness-is-to-blame-for-child-porn

Appearing at the Educational Policy Conference which featured speakers like former Congressman Todd Akin, former Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann, and Phyllis Schafly, gubernatorial candidate Catherine Hanaway appeared to make the bizarre claim that liberals "sexual permissiveness through abortions and other things" is responsible for the horrific act of creating child pornography. Here's a transcript of her remarks:

"So, the liberals want to talk about conservatives waging a war on women. But, think about what they're talking about. When their chief criticism of conservatives, the chief criticism is that we stand up for the sanctity of life. That because we are pro-life we are somehow against women.

I am here to say that their culture of permissiveness towards sexual activity is the real war on women. Let's start with the notion, well it’s not a notion, it’s a fact, that the fact that the culture of sexual permissiveness has led to record levels of out of wedlock births.

And what has that done for women? It has impoverished women. It has reduced their access to educational opportunities. It has impoverished and endangered their children. It has forced those children to grow up in households where their mothers have to work, to make it economically viable for them to exist and with no fathers. How is that culture good for women and children?

But it goes a step further, and it’s that step further that I want to talk about today. And this is the hard part. So, if you pursue this course that sexual permissiveness is to be valued, which is the liberal framework and that you should protect sexual permissiveness through abortions and other things, you lead to a conclusion where every sexual preference is acceptable.

Now, I still think and pray that an overwhelming majority of Americans believe that those who have a sexual preference for children are evil. But I will tell you that in the four years I spent as the presidentially appointed united states attorney, which is the chief federal prosecutor, a tremendous amount of my time was devoted to child pornography related crimes.

So it is a federal crime to possess distribute or produce child pornography, and it should be. Well what concerns me is the slide in our culture that says hey everything is okay and so why should just having a picture of something be a crime, because to possess child pornography is a crime, why should that be a crime? Well, it should be a crime, and this is some of the difficult stuff I have to talk to you about, and please forgive me, 70% of those images depict kids under the age of 12, 50% of the images depict kids under the age of 5, 30% under the age of 2, and the children are not alone, they’re really crime scene photos, they’re photos of children being raped, that’s what they are. So even calling them pornography, I really think we should call them crime scene photos."

First it was Mark Foley, now it is Dennis Hastert. Who else used the Adam Walsh Act as a cover-up for their own

I'm really hoping John Walsh is the next to fall. It seems that the AWA has been used a lot to cover up a lot of sexual improprieties. Dennis Hastert recently got 15 months for paying off someone he allegedly touched decades ago.

http://www.ibtimes.com/dennis-hastert-promoted-himself-crusader-against-sexual-abuse-children-1944886

Dennis Hastert Promoted Himself As Crusader Against Sexual Abuse of Children
BY DAVID SIROTA @DAVIDSIROTA AND MATTHEW CUNNINGHAM-COOK @MATTCUNNINGHAMC ON 05/29/15 AT 6:10 PM

Nine years before being indicted on financial charges -- reportedly an attempt to cover up sexual misconduct involving a male high school student -- Dennis Hastert spent his last few months as House speaker alternately promoting himself as a defender of child welfare and fending off accusations that he helped cover up another Republican's gay sexual misconduct scandal.

In July 2006, shortly before Democrats won the midterm congressional elections and ended his speakership, Hastert spearheaded a bill to toughen punishments for sex crimes against children. The legislation, named after the abducted and murdered Florida boy Adam Walsh, passed the Republican-controlled House unanimously. In a statement at the time, Hastert said protecting children from predators was as high a priority for him as national security -- this, post-9/11 and during two wars.

"At home, we put the security of our children first, and Republicans are doing just that in our nation's House,” he said. “We've all seen the disturbing headlines about sex offenders and crimes against children. These crimes cannot persist. Protecting our children from Internet predators and child exploitation enterprises are just as high a priority as securing our border from terrorists.”

The biography of the former speaker at the website of Wheaton College's Hastert Center for Economics, Government, and Public Policy states that during his three terms in the Illinois Legislature, Hastert "spearheaded legislation on child abuse prevention." During his 20-year congressional career, Hastert supported legislative initiatives to deter and punish sexual abuse of minors, including the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Amendments of 1996, the Child Abuse Prevention and Enforcement Act of 2000 and the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006.

In his press release touting the last initiative, Hastert specifically touted its provisions “improving sex offender registration and notification programs, enhancing law enforcement resources, preventing child exploitation, stopping child pornography and creating new criminal offense penalties protecting children from the Internet.”

Among the members of Congress who publicly thanked Hastert for championing the bill was Florida Republican Mark Foley. Only months later, Foley’s sexually suggestive text messages to underage congressional male pages would become a scandal for Hastert, who some say ignored the situation and did not take fast enough disciplinary action.

In that sordid affair, some congressional Republicans suggested that Hastert did not adequately respond to concerns -- long raised privately -- about Foley’s behavior. A former Foley aide said that long before the allegations became public, he alerted “senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene,” but Hastert’s office did not respond. Hastert denied that accusation, but later acknowledged that his office had been contacted about the matter a year before it became a public scandal.

House Majority Leader (now Speaker) John Boehner, R-Ohio, also said he told Hastert about the allegations earlier in the year (Boehner quickly retracted his own statement). Hastert was forced to answer ethics committee questions, and was criticized by then-Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., over his handling of the matter. The conservative Washington Times called for Hastert to resign.

Hastert did find one high-profile backer during the scandal: President George W. Bush. In comments to reporters, Bush declared: "I know that he wants all the facts to come out and he wants to ensure that these children up there on Capitol Hill are protected. I'm confident he will provide whatever leadership he can to law enforcement in this investigation."

On Friday evening Speaker Boehner released a statement saying, "The Denny I served with worked hard on behalf of his constituents and the country. I'm shocked and saddened to learn of these reports." 

Attorney General Hector Balderas puts both the "bald" and the "ass" in the New Mexico Attorney General's Office

If there was ever a man who helps the state keep the spirit of the derisive slogan "Land of Entrapment," it is Attorney General Hector Balderas. He and his staff walked out of a legislative session in protest over a bill allowing teen sexters to get off the registry, citing that the NM ICAC would lose funding. At least he admitted it is all about the money!

http://www.alamogordonews.com/story/news/politics/new-mexico/2016/02/17/ag-opposes-teen-sexting-exception-amended-child-porn-bill/80530946/

AG opposes teen sexting exception in amended child porn bill
Milan Simonich, The New Mexican 6:46 p.m. MST February 17, 2016

SANTA FE – In a cantankerous hearing Tuesday night, a Senate committee approved a bill to increase penalties for those who manufacture, distribute and possess child pornography, but not until adding an exception for consensual cases of teenage "sexting."

The amendment so upset members of Democratic state Attorney General Hector Balderas' staff that they walked out in protest.

I bet being an asshole is also part of who he is. 

Sen. George Muñoz, D-Gallup, called the behavior by Balderas' staff "a joke" and told the bill's sponsor, Rep. Sarah Maestas Barnes, "It's an embarrassment that they did that to you."

A spokesman for Balderas later said in an email: The "attorney general staff walked out of committee in support of stronger protections for New Mexico children." Then Balderas himself sent a statement that said in part: "I cannot support an amendment that weakens protections for teenagers from predatory activity, creates a dangerous new child exploitation loophole, and places New Mexico's federal Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force funding in jeopardy."

Maestas Barnes, R-Albuquerque, originally sought to allow prosecution of defendants for every individual image of child pornography that they possessed. She said some defendants with large numbers of pictures have drawn sentences from no prison time to 18 months. Her bill got out of the Republican-controlled House of Representatives intact, but it has been heavily amended in the Senate and criticized by a senator from her own party.

Sen. Lisa Torraco, R-Albuquerque, in a previous hearing, said Maestas Barnes' bill was flawed because it wasn't tough enough on manufacturers of child porn, and because cases of teens texting explicit pictures to a boyfriend or girlfriend could have been subject to prosecution.

Maestas Barnes reluctantly accepted Senate rewrites of the bill. It now calls for a 10-year prison term for possession, 11 years for distribution and 12 years for "manufacturing" lewd images of children. Those producing child porn often molest the children as well.

Maestas Barnes on Tuesday night gave halfhearted support to Muñoz's amendment in the Senate Finance Committee, so that teens ages 14 through 17 in consensual boyfriend-girlfriend relationships would not be prosecuted for texting photos that might be construed under other circumstances as child exploitation.

Clara Moran, a prosecutor on the attorney general's staff, testified that her office opposed the amendment. She said the Children, Youth and Families Department had no cases in the last three years in which texting byplay between teenagers had led to criminal offenses. But a spokeswoman for defense attorneys countered that those sorts of prosecutions of teenagers had occurred.

Muñoz at one point talked of withdrawing his amendment. But Sen. Sue Wilson Beffort, R-Sandia Park, said she would filibuster the bill unless it contained a provision to head off prosecutions of teens who did something stupid but without criminal intent.

Beffort said she feared teenage boys would end up being prosecuted because of a complaining parent with clout. "It strikes a terrible nerve with me. It is a fairness issue," Beffort said.

Senators on the Finance Committee approved the amendment 9-1. Sen. Pete Campos, D-Las Vegas, dissented.

After that, Moran and other members of the attorney general's staff walked out, leaving Maestas Barnes to answer any other questions from the committee.

Attorney General Balderas for two days had sent news releases calling on the committee to approve the bill without amending it. But he didn't attend the hearing, prompting Muñoz to criticize Balderas. "If he cared so much, why isn't he here? He sends his little henchmen."

Balderas' spokesman, James Hallinan, said Balderas did not attend the hearing "because he sent his staff."

With less than two days remaining in the session, the amended bill next goes to the full Senate.

Alabama Republican State Rep Steve Hurst wants your 'wurst in the worst kind of way

Steve Hurst has been trying to get a mandatory SURGICAL castration bill passed since 2007. I think the legislature should pass a mandatory surgical lobotomy bill for people like Hurst.

I think this guy is pretty perverted, quite frankly. ecause this guy is completely obsessed with cutting penises.

http://wiat.com/2016/03/04/alabama-lawmaker-introduces-sex-offender-castration-bill/

Alabama lawmaker introduces sex offender castration bill
By Matt Fernandez
Published: March 4, 2016, 10:26 pm  Updated: March 4, 2016, 10:29 pm

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — An Alabama lawmaker has a plan to permanently and physically punish someone convicted of certain sex offenses against children.

The bill, known as HB 365, would make those sex offenders have to get surgically castrated before they leave prison.

HB 365 was introduced by State Representative Steve Hurst, R-Calhoun County.

He said the bill will be for sex offenders over the age of 21 that committed sex offenses against children 12 years old and younger.

“They have marked this child for life and the punishment should fit the crime,” said Hurst.

This is not Hurst’s first time introducing the bill.

“I had people call me in the past when I introduced it and said don’t you think this is inhumane? I asked them what’s more inhumane than when you take a little infant child, and you sexually molest that infant child when the child cannot defend themselves or get away, and they have to go through all the things they have to go through. If you want to talk about inhumane–that’s inhumane,” said Hurst.

Hurst is hoping this would make sex offenders think twice.

“If we do something of this nature it would deter something like this happening again in Alabama and maybe reduce the numbers,” said Hurst.

Residents have some mixed emotions about it.

“Somebody that wants to mess with a little girl or little boy that age should be castrated, and they should not be able to mess with any other kids,” said Keith Dison.

“I understand prison and going to prison for a long time for some kind of crime like that, but to physical mutilate someone…that’s a little out there…it’s crazy,” Jessica George said.

The bill will have to pass the judiciary committee before it’s heard by the Alabama House and Senate.

Residency restrictions were restricted in Cali, so Sharon Runner wants to restrict the restrictions on the restrictions

I'm not surprised by this woman's actions, seeing as how she has drank the "sex trafficking" kool-aid.

http://runner.cssrc.us/content/sharon-runner-introduces-legislation-requiring-department-corrections-obey-jessicas-law

Sharon Runner Introduces Legislation Requiring Department of Corrections to Obey Jessica's Law
Friday, February 12, 2016

SACRAMENTO – Senator Sharon Runner (R-Antelope Valley) announced today she is authoring legislation that will stop the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) from allowing convicted sex offenders to live near parks and grade schools. Senate Bill 1021 will require CDCR to enforce the voter approved sex offender residency restriction under Jessica’s Law in all counties except San Diego.

Last year the California Supreme Court held that the restriction preventing registered sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or park could not be upheld in San Diego County because of a severe lack of compliant housing. While the Supreme Court made it abundantly clear that the ruling applied only in San Diego County, CDCR immediately refused to enforce the law in any of the other 57 counties.

“The Corrections Department’s sweeping decision to allow convicted sex offenders to live next to where our children learn and play is unacceptable,” said Runner. “Under the department’s new policy, only 24% of sex offenders are still required to live within the limits set by Jessica’s Law. This means that 76% of paroled registered sex offenders are free to live next door to parks and grade schools, even before they complete parole.”

Equally as disturbing, the Department justifies its refusal to enforce Jessica’s Law upon the advice of the California Attorney General, but has refused to release the Attorney General opinion, despite repeated requests from legislators and the press.

Specifically, SB 1021 requires CDCR to enforce the 2,000 foot residency restriction unless the law is amended by the voters or Legislature, or it is found unenforceable by courts within individual counties.

SB 1021 also gives the Appellate Division of the Superior Court of each county primary jurisdiction to hear petitions challenging the 2,000 foot residency restriction as laid out in Jessica’s Law. The Court could grant relief if it is established that there was a pervasive lack of compliant housing in the subject county.

“State agencies are not exempt from following the rule of law,” said Runner. “Jessica’s Law was approved by over 70% of California voters. SB 1021 makes it clear that California’s bureaucracy cannot just ignore statues and voter initiatives it finds inconvenient.”

Runner authored voter-approved Jessica’s Law along with her husband, Board of Equalization Vice Chair George Runner, in 2006. In addition to mandatory residency restrictions for sex offenders, the comprehensive law increased penalties for the most egregious sex offenses and provides law enforcement with more tools to impede, apprehend and incarcerate sex offenders.

Well, if IML only applies to "registered pedophiles," then this law applies to no one, because...

...because obviously there is NO SUCH THING as a "registered pedophile."

Anyone who uses the P word so lackadaisically is nominated by default. Expect to see more International Megan's Law posts in the coming days.

It seems Senator "Mark the Jerk" Kirk has a chronic case of foot-in-mouth disease.

http://www.kirk.senate.gov/?p=press_release&id=1619

Senators Kirk, Shelby, Mikulski, & Representative Chris Smith Applaud Passage of International Megan’s Law
Tuesday, Feb 2, 2016
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WASHINGTON –  U.S. Senators Mark Kirk (R-Ill.), Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), and U.S. Congressman Chris Smith (R-N.J.-04) today applauded House passage of H.R. 515, introduced by Congressman Chris Smith, which puts International Megan’s Law on the President’s desk for signature. H.R. 515 passed the Senate in December 2015. S.1867, the Senate companion bill, was introduced by Senators Kirk, Shelby and Mikulski. 

“Last year in Illinois there were 120 reported cases of human trafficking. This abuse of children must end.  International Megan’s Law will increase communication throughout law enforcement to help identify and apprehend pedophiles who prey on children for sex," said Senator Kirk.  “There is still more to do if we want to combat trafficking internationally and here at home, and as the author of the SAVE Act I will continue to lead the fight on behalf of those who are victimized.”

“It is great news for all Americans that the House passed International Megan’s Law today,”said Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL). “Crimes against children are a horrible plague on our society, and this legislation takes crucial steps to eradicate them.  In addition to streamlining domestic and international communication, International Megan’s law creates new procedures to advance ongoing efforts that will help us achieve one critically important goal: preventing horrific crimes against innocent children.  I urge the President to quickly sign this legislation into law so that we can begin to proactively protect families in the U.S. and around the world.”

“We have made some amazing progress over the years, starting out with billboards and milk cartons. But as crimes have grown more sophisticated, we’ve had to become more sophisticated,” said Senator Mikulski, Vice Chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee which funds the Department of Homeland Security and Department of Justice. “This legislation will give the Departments of Homeland Security and Justice the tools they need to protect children at home and abroad.”

“I applaud Congress, under the leadership of Senators Richard Shelby and Barbara Mikulski and Congressman Chris Smith, on the final passage of International Megan’s Law which will help ensure the effective monitoring and compliance of sex offenders who have harmed children and may pose a risk to children in the United States and abroad,”  said John F. Clark, President and CEO, National Center for Missing & Exploited Children

“It is imperative that we take the lessons learned from Megan’s Law on how to protect our children from known child sex predators within our borders and expand those protections globally to prevent convicted U.S. sex offenders from harming children abroad,” said Congressman Smith, who first introduced the bill in 2008, naming it for Megan Kanka, a seven-year-old from his district who was sexually assaulted and killed in 1994 by a previously convicted sexual predator. “The reinforcing provisions of this carefully crafted legislation—advance notice of travel to countries of destination and the passport provisions championed by Sen. Shelby—will help stop those seeking to end run the registry and notification programs. This legislation is a product of effective bipartisan teamwork in both the House and Senate and we call on all agencies of the Administration for swift and faithful implementation.” 

International Megan’s Law:

Requires registered pedophiles to have a unique passport identifier to ensure that they can be identified at the border as they travel internationally in the event that advanced notification was not sent by the Department of Homeland Security or the Department of Justice. 
Establishes the “Angel Watch Center” at the Department of Homeland Security to ensure that all destination countries receive a notification that a convicted child sex predator is traveling to their country.  The Department of Homeland Security’s responsibilities at the border and their unique relationships with border officials around the world will enable Angel Watch’s charge.
 Formalizes the process for the United States Marshal’s Service Sex Offender Targeting Center to provide advanced notice of travel by all registered sex offenders to destination countries using the Interpol notification system.
Coordinates communication between the newly established Angel Watch Center and the well-established United States Marshal’s Service Sex Offender Targeting Center and streamlines the international notification system to ensure that no registered sex predators are lost in the system when leaving the United States.
Designates the Angel Watch Center as responsible for receiving notifications of convicted sex offenders entering the United States.