IA- Law enforcement favors offender bill

Excellent, ignore the public by denying them input. Aren't lawmakers smart? Guess thats one way to eliminate any opposition. Funny, didn't things get to be a mess because lawmakers would not listen? Business as usual..

4-20-2009 Iowa:

A bipartisan plan aimed at better monitoring child sex offenders and scaling back the mandates of a controversial residency law won wide support tonight from law enforcement groups.

But for others — including sex offenders, their loved ones and professionals who work with victims and abusers — a public hearing Monday at the Statehouse was likely their only opportunity to voice concern.

Legislators have said the body could act on the proposal — kept secret until last week — before the end of the week.

“We believe it’s time to quit underestimating the public,” said Beth Barnhill of Iowa’s Coalition Against Sexual Assault, who, like many speakers at the Statehouse, urged lawmakers to simply repeal the state’s controversial 2,000-foot law restricting where sex offenders can live.

Lawmakers’ plan would maintain the 2,000-foot residency restriction for the most serious offenders.

Under the plan, endorsed today by Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller, sex offenders would be prohibited from entering or loitering near places where children frequent. Those places could include schools, child care centers, playgrounds, children’s play areas, swimming pools or “the premises of any place intended primarily for the use of minors.”

The legislation also aims to bring Iowa more in compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Act’s minimum standards for offender registration and notification.

(eAdvocate Post)
More than 25 people asked to speak about the proposal at the public hearing.

Law enforcement groups liked the measure, because under the legislation, more serious sex offenders would have to register in person with authorities as much as four times a year. They also would have to provide more information about themselves, such as Internet identifiers and the vehicles they drive.

Under more stringent registry requirements, some sex offenders would remain on Iowa’s sex offender registry for life.

Said Darrin Starkey, a lower-risk offender who faces life on the reigstry under the proposal: “You have to be careful of not painting everyone with the same brush.”

Most of those who turned up to speak in favor of the legislation, dubbed the Child Protection and Safety Act, were sheriffs and deputies. They, along with probation officers, face the often onerous task of tracking convicted offenders’ whereabouts.

“If we could do something this year that would make it work better, that would be great,” said Clay County Sheriff Randy Krukow.

Krukow said under current law, he and other sheriffs are helpless to do anything
when sex offenders loiter near country fairs and other places where young people are. Right now, the state’s 2,000-foot law only prohibits them from living near child care centers or schools.

Still, some scolded lawmakers for waiting until what could be the last week of the session to seek public feedback. As of tonight, many details about how the legislation would work with individual offenders was still unknown.

“We’re disappointed,” said Marty Ryan, a lobbyist who represents Iowa’s Civil Liberties Union.

“This public hearing is both dishonest and disrespectful … How is the public supposed to comment on legislation for which it has not had details?”

The proposal will remove some offenders from the 2,000-foot restriction, including those convicted of incest. State officials have not said how many offenders would no longer have to comply.

The new measure would require any child sex offender who wants to visit a school, library or child care center to first obtain written permission from administrators. ..News Source.. by LEE ROOD • lrood@dmreg.com