[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 64 (Thursday, May 9, 1996)]
[Senate]
[Page S4921]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              MEGAN'S LAW

  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed 
to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 393, H.R. 2137.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The clerk will report.
  The bill clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 2137) to amend the Violent Crime Control and 
     Law Enforcement Act of 1994 to require the release of 
     relevant information to protect the public from sexually 
     violent offenders.

  The Senate proceeded to consider the bill.
  Mr. DOLE. Mr. President, Tuesday night the House passed an important 
measure that will help protect our Nation's children from sexual 
predators.
  By a vote of 418 to 0, the House passed legislation, known as Megan's 
law, that strengthens existing law to require all 50 States to notify 
communities of the presence of convicted sex offenders who might pose a 
danger to children.
  In 1994, the crime bill allowed but did not require States to take 
such steps. And since that time, 49 States have enacted sex offender 
registration laws, and 30 States have adopted community notification 
provisions.
  But not all States have taken the necessary steps to require such 
notification, and this is a tragedy in the making.
  For once, let us prevent a tragedy instead of waiting for some other 
horrific crime and then taking action. We should pass this law now.
  How can we hesitate one moment?
  Every parent in America knows the fear, the doubts, he or she suffers 
worrying about the safety of his or her children. Parents understand 
that their children cannot know how truly evil some people are. They 
know that no matter how hard they try, they cannot be with their 
children every second of the day.
  And a second is all it takes for tragedy to strike.
  We have an obligation to ensure that those who have committed such 
crimes will not be able to do so again. This is a limited measure, but 
an absolutely necessary one.
  Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, we will act tonight on Megan's law, which 
strengthens and improves a good law, and provides families with needed 
protection against the most heinous of crimes. Although Megan's law 
will not affect my State of Washington, which should, and does serve as 
a model for other States around the country, it will assist those 
States that, for whatever reason, have been slower to act or more 
timorous in their fight against crime.
  In 1994, Congress passed the Violent Crime Control and Law 
Enforcement Act. The act contained a number of good provisions, perhaps 
the one I cared about most was the provision calling for the 
registration of sexual offenders and community notification. Most 
States have already implemented systems to require people who abduct 
children, or who commit sexual crimes, to register their addresses with 
State or local law enforcement officials. The provision in the 1994 
act, however, was not as tough as I would have liked. The Act permitted 
State and local law enforcement to notify communities that there was a 
sexual predator in their midst, but it did not require this 
notification. We are back now to improve upon that law by requiring 
community notification. Even with this mandate, however, State and 
local law enforcement officials, still will retain the substantial 
discretion to determine when community notification is called for, what 
information to release, and how to best inform the community.
  Parents have a right to know that their children are in danger, that 
the person living next door to them, or down the street is a convicted 
sexual predator. The need for this notification was tragically 
illustrated in the case of Megan Kanka, for whom the law before us 
today is named. Two years ago, Megan was allegedly raped and murdered 
by a man who lived across the street from her, a man who twice before 
had been convicted of being a sexual predator, and who lived with two 
house mates who were themselves sexual predators. Megan's parents did 
not know this. If they had, they could have advised their daughter not 
to accept her neighbor's invitation to come into his house to see a 
puppy.
  Mr. DOLE. I ask unanimous consent the bill be deemed read a third 
time, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any 
statements in the bill be printed at the appropriate place in the 
Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The bill (H.R. 2137) was deemed read three times and passed.
  Mr. DOLE. I think, just for the information of my colleagues, this 
bill just passed is commonly referred to as Megan's law.

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