[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 59 (Monday, May 9, 2005)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4649-S4651]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

      By Mr. NELSON of Florida:
  S. 980. A bill to provide state and local governments with financial 
assistance that will increase their ability and effectiveness in 
monitoring convicted sex offenders by developing and implementing a 
program using global positioning systems to monitor convicted sexual 
offenders or sexual predators released from confinement; to the 
Committee on the Judiciary.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Mr. President, I commend the leadership.
  I rise to address the Senate on the subject of sexual predators. We 
have certainly had our fill of these people who prey on children in the 
State of Florida. The Nation has recently joined Florida in mourning 
the deaths of two young girls murdered by registered sex offenders. In 
March, an attacker walked in to--
  Mr. INHOFE. Will the Senator yield for a question?
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. Certainly.
  Mr. INHOFE. Could I inquire as to how long you would like to address 
the Senate in morning business.
  Mr. NELSON of Florida. About 5 minutes.
  I thank the distinguished Senator from Oklahoma. I know this is a 
subject that he is quite concerned with. The Nation was gripped with 
the news of this sexual predator who walked into the unlocked home of a 
9-year-old, Jessica Lunsford, in Homossassa, FL, took her from her 
bed--I want the Senator from Oklahoma to listen to the emotion in my 
voice. He walked into her unlocked home, took her from her bed, raped 
her, and then buried her alive. The man who is charged is a registered 
sex offender, previously convicted of molesting a minor, but law 
enforcement had lost track of him. In fact, he was living within 150 
feet of Jessica Lunsford.
  To add insult to injury, he was working at an elementary school.
  Unfortunately, it did not stop there. About a month later, 13-year-
old Sarah Lunde was abducted from her home in Rushkin, FL, and she was 
murdered. Her confessed killer is her mother's ex-boyfriend, who is 
also a convicted sex offender.
  In our State alone, we have over 30,000 registered sex offenders, and 
there are more than 300,000 nationwide. The Bureau of Justice 
Statistics has provided data showing that 70 percent of all the men in 
prison for a sex crime were men whose victim was a child.

[[Page S4650]]

  In 2003, the Justice Department published a report on recidivism 
rates of sex offenders, and it has produced some disturbing statistics. 
The Department of Justice tracked 9,691 male sex offenders released 
from 15 State prisons, including Florida. They tracked them for a 3-
year period and found that 40 percent of the sex offenders who re-
offended did so within the first year, and within 3 years of their 
release from prison, 5.3 percent of those sex offenders were rearrested 
for another sex crime. Is this beginning to tell us a story? Half of 
the sex offenders tracked in this study included men who molested 
children, and within the first 3 years of their release from prison, 
3.3 percent of these convicts were rearrested for another sex crime 
against a child.
  In the wake of the two recent tragedies in Florida, of Jessica 
Lunsford and Sarah Lunde, the State legislature passed a law that will 
provide tougher sentences for child sex offenders, and aid law 
enforcement in effectively monitoring those sex offenders. This law 
will require sex offenders, released back into our communities, to wear 
a bracelet that will have a global positioning system track them.
  I applaud the initiative by our State, and I believe now there ought 
to be an appropriate Federal response to be supportive of the States 
and local governments that want to address this problem. The technology 
is there, but it is expensive. To be effective, tough laws on these 
sexual predators of children must be properly funded, and I believe it 
is worth properly funding them to protect our children.
  Today I am introducing this bill, the Sexual Predator Effective 
Monitoring Act, which will provide $30 million in grants to States that 
establish programs under their State law to get tougher on child sex 
offenders released back into a community and to get tougher on them 
with more effective monitoring and tracking. This bill directs the 
Attorney General to award grants to those States to assist them in 
carrying out programs to outfit sexual offenders with an ankle bracelet 
that will track them using global positioning systems.
  In the first year, I am suggesting that this bill offer $10 million 
in grants. In the second year, $20 million, and then we would have to 
come back and readdress the issue. The Attorney General then would be 
directed to issue a report so we could go on with future extension of 
the bill. There are no silver bullets to stop these sexual predators 
from preying on our children, but I believe tough laws, such as the new 
Florida statute, are going to go a long way in preventing these sexual 
offenders from reoffending.
  Nine-year-old Jessica Lunsford's confessed rapist and murderer was 
living only within 150 feet of her home, but law enforcement officers 
did not know where he was because he failed to notify them of his 
changed address. Law enforcement also did not know he was working in a 
nearby elementary school, nor did the school know they had a registered 
sex offender on school property.
  GPS monitoring systems, when properly used, will assist law 
enforcement in knowing where these child sex offenders are and 
preventing them from going into restricted areas like elementary 
schools. We owe it to our children to do all we can to make sure that 
we keep them safe. That is why I am introducing this bill today.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 980

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Sexual Predator Effective 
     Monitoring Act of 2005''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that--
       (1) in recent years we have seen multiple cases of 
     convicted sexual offenders serving probation abducting and 
     murdering young children;
       (2) several states have begun the development and 
     implementation of outfitting convicted sexual offenders with 
     Global Positioning Systems to track their movements while on 
     probation;
       (3) the employment of these devices will assist law 
     enforcement in tracking the movements and location of 
     probationers in real time to within 10 ft. of their location;
       (4) Global Positioning System tracking will permit law 
     enforcement to ensure that convicted sex offenders do not go 
     to areas restricted according to the terms of their 
     probation;
       (5) Global Positioning Systems will serve to deter sexual 
     predators from re-offending as they will know that their 
     movements are monitored and tracked by law enforcement; and
       (6) in the event that a convicted sexual offender commits 
     an additional sex offense while on probation and monitored 
     with a Global Positioning System, the Global Positioning 
     System technology will aid law enforcement in the 
     investigation of these crimes by quickly determining the 
     location of sexual offenders within the area of the suspected 
     crime.

     SEC. 3. SEXUAL PREDATOR MONITORING PROGRAM.

       (a) Grants Authorized.--
       (1) In general.--The Attorney General is authorized to 
     award grants and contracts to State and local governments to 
     assist such States and local governments in--
       (A) carrying out programs to outfit sexual offenders with 
     electronic monitoring units; and
       (B) the employment of law enforcement officials necessary 
     to carry out such programs.
       (2) Duration.--The Secretary shall award grants under this 
     Act for a period not to exceed 3 years.
       (b) Application.--
       (1) In general.--Each State or local government desiring a 
     grant under this Act shall submit an application to the 
     Attorney General at such time, in such manner, and 
     accompanied by such information as the Attorney General may 
     reasonably require.
       (2) Contents.--Each application submitted pursuant to 
     paragraph (1) shall--
       (A) describe the activities for which assistance under this 
     Act is sought; and
       (B) provide such additional assurances as the Attorney 
     General determines to be essential to ensure compliance with 
     the requirements of this Act.

     SEC. 4. PROPORTIONAL SHARE.

       The Attorney General shall ensure that each State with 
     eligible programs receives a proportional share of funding 
     under this Act based on the total number of eligible States 
     and the population of sex offenders to be monitored with 
     global positioning systems in those States.

     SEC. 5. DEFINITION.

       In this Act, the term ``sexual offender'' means an offender 
     18 years of age or older who commits a sexual offense against 
     a minor.

     SEC. 6. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

       (a) In General.--There are authorized to be appropriated 
     $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2006 and $20,000,000 for fiscal 
     year 2007 to carry out this Act.
       (b) Report.--Not later than April 1, 2007, the Attorney 
     General shall report to Congress--
       (1) assessing the effectiveness and value of this Act; and
       (2) making recommendations for continuing funding and the 
     appropriate levels for such funding.

  Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Truth in 
Employment Act, a bill I previously introduced in the House of 
Representatives to stem the harm done to companies by salting, a union 
tactic that is causing material economic damage to small businesses 
everyday in this country.
  There is a basic disagreement over the definition of salting. While 
union supporters and the NLRB have defined the term as the ``placing of 
union members on non-union job sites for the purpose of organizing,'' 
it has been widely documented that the true motivation of many salts is 
simply to increase the cost of doing business for non-union 
contractors, regardless of the wishes of the employer's bona fide 
employees.
  Salting is much more than someone seeking employment for the purpose 
of union organizing. It is an attempt to interfere with business 
operations, harass employees, and cause economic harm through illegal 
activities and frivolous legal complaints against employers. Union 
organizers who fail to convince employees to organize will use salting 
to shut down non-union companies, often going to extreme lengths, 
including preventing deliveries to job sites and destroying building 
supplies.
  In my own State of South Carolina, salting has resulted in the loss 
of hundreds of jobs. In Sumter, South Carolina, the Yuasa Exide battery 
plant was targeted by a union.
  Union salts infiltrated the plant, and when employees there did not 
unionize, the union retaliated by sabotaging product, causing work slow 
downs, making verbal threats and threatening phone calls, and putting 
nails in people's tires. Union leaders threatened to shut down the 
plant and they did just that. Six hundred and fifty people were laid 
off because the Yuasa Exide plant could not afford the increased cost 
to

[[Page S4651]]

the business of defending itself and its employees from the union 
salting campaign. Yuasa Exide, which was the first tenant in Sumter's 
industrial park, had been there since 1965 and provided high-tech, 
good-paying jobs in a rural area, was forced to close its doors because 
of salting.
  The impacts of salting are felt by many. Companies see increased 
costs from having to defend themselves against labor relations 
complaints as well as lost hours of productivity from having to fight 
these charges. Consumers are impacted by salting when they experience 
increased costs and higher prices. Moreover, Federal agencies spend 
untold sums to investigate claims that are later found to be without 
merit, forcing taxpayers to effectively subsidize union activity.
  To put it bluntly, salting is a job killer. At a time when we are 
working in Congress to enact policies which will spur job growth and 
ensure future economic prosperity, salting abuses stand directly in the 
way of these goals. We can no longer allow American jobs to suffer at 
the hands of Washington labor bosses.
  To prevent salting abuses from causing more harm to employers, I am 
introducing the Truth in Employment Act which amends section 8(a) of 
the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to make clear that an employer 
is not required to hire any person who seeks a job in order to promote 
interests unrelated to those of the employer. This bill in no way 
infringes upon any rights or protections otherwise accorded employees 
under the NLRA. Employees will continue to enjoy their right to 
organize. The bill merely seeks to alleviate the legal pressures 
imposed upon employers to hire individuals whose overriding purpose for 
seeking the job is to disrupt the employer's workplace or otherwise 
inflict economic harm designed to put the employer out of business. 
This bill in no way infringes upon any rights or protections otherwise 
accorded employees under the NLRA, or any other employment statute.
  I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the 
Record.
  There being no objection, the bill was ordered to be printed in the 
Record, as follows:

                                 S. 983

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Truth in Employment Act of 
     2005''.

     SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

       Congress finds that:
       (1) An atmosphere of trust and civility in labor-management 
     relationships is essential to a productive workplace and a 
     healthy economy.
       (2) The tactic of using professional union organizers and 
     agents to infiltrate a targeted employer's workplace, a 
     practice commonly referred to as ``salting'' has evolved into 
     an aggressive form of harassment not contemplated when the 
     National Labor Relations Act was enacted and threatens the 
     balance of rights which is fundamental to our system of 
     collective bargaining.
       (3) Increasingly, union organizers are seeking employment 
     with nonunion employers not because of a desire to work for 
     such employers but primarily to organize the employees of 
     such employers or to inflict economic harm specifically 
     designed to put nonunion competitors out of business, or to 
     do both.
       (4) While no employer may discriminate against employees 
     based upon the views of employees concerning collective 
     bargaining, an employer should have the right to expect job 
     applicants to be primarily interested in utilizing the skills 
     of the applicants to further the goals of the business of the 
     employer.

     SEC. 3. PURPOSES.

       The purposes of this Act are--
       (1) to preserve the balance of rights between employers, 
     employees, and labor organizations which is fundamental to 
     our system of collective bargaining;
       (2) to preserve the rights of workers to organize, or 
     otherwise engage in concerted activities protected under the 
     National Labor Relations Act; and
       (3) to alleviate pressure on employers to hire individuals 
     who seek or gain employment in order to disrupt the workplace 
     of the employer or otherwise inflict economic harm designed 
     to put the employer out of business.

     SEC. 4. PROTECTION OF EMPLOYER RIGHTS.

       Section 8(a) of the National Labor Relations Act (29 U.S.C. 
     158(a)) is amended by adding after and below paragraph (5) 
     the following:
     ``Nothing in this subsection shall be construed as requiring 
     an employer to employ any person who seeks or has sought 
     employment with the employer in furtherance of other 
     employment or agency status.''.

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