[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 135 (Saturday, November 20, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S11789]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


      DRU SJODIN NATIONAL SEX OFFENDER PUBLIC DATABASE ACT OF 2004

  Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I rise today to commend my colleagues on 
passage of S. 2154, Dru's Law. After last year's abduction of Dru 
Sjodin in North Dakota, Senator Dorgan introduced this bill to address 
a problem with our sex offender registry. The problem is simple, yet 
great: There is no public national sex offender registry. Each State 
maintains its own registry of sex offenders, but there is no national 
database for the public to search.
  I was pleased to support this legislation when it was referred to the 
Judiciary Committee and was happy to work with Senator Dorgan to 
improve the language of the final bill. Dru's law directs the Attorney 
General to make available to the public, via the Internet, a national 
registry of sex offenders. It also requires each State to provide 
timely notice to the State's attorney general of the impending release 
of a high-risk sex offender; and upon such notification, the State's 
attorney general is required to consider whether to institute a civil 
commitment proceeding. States must intensively monitor for at least 1 
year any high-risk sex offender who has not been civilly committed and 
has been unconditionally released from incarceration.
  I want to thank my colleague Senator Dorgan for his dedication to 
this legislation.

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