New Laws Would Make Life Harder For Registered Sex Offenders

AUSTIN — State and federal legislators have introduced new legislation that would require registered sex offenders to also register their cell phone numbers, e-mail addresses and social networking site identities.

According toTexas Attorney General Greg Abbott, the new legislation has been spearheaded by U.S. Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) and U.S. Congressman Lamar Smith (R-TX).

Cornyn introduced the Internet Stopping Adults Facilitating the Exploitation of Today’s Youth (SAFETY) Act of 2009.Smith, a former Texas legislator, sponsored companion legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives, according to a release from Abbott.

The release quotes Rep. Smith as stating only 2,100 children have been identified from the more than 600,000 images that have been reported to federal law enforcement agencies.

“Federal, state and local law enforcement officials have reached a digital dead end in their battle against the online sexual exploitation of children,” said Smith. “They need the assistance of Internet Service Providers to identify users and distributors of online child pornography.”

Abbott said he also supports similar legislation in Texas introduced by state Sen. Florence Shapiro (R-District 8) and Rep. Aaron Pea (D)that would update state sex offender registration laws.

“With sexual predators increasingly using new technology to prey upon children, it is critical that law enforcement stay ahead of the criminals,” said Abbott.

According to the release, Senate Bill 689 and House Bill 1239, would upgrade state sex offender registration laws to reflect modern technological innovations and communications platforms. The bills would require convicted sex offenders provide their e-mail addresses, mobile telephone numbers, social networking aliases and other electronic identification information to the Department of Public Safety’s sex offender registry.

If enacted, the Internet SAFETY Act would:

Create a new federal offense for the financial facilitation of child pornography; Create a new federal offense for facilitation of child pornography or child exploitation by an Internet content hosting provider or e-mail service provider; Require the U.S. Attorney General to promulgate regulations regarding the record retention of subscribers’ Internet Protocol addresses or user information by Internet Service Providers; Increase penalties for sexual exploitation of children; Increase penalties for activities relating to material involving the sexual exploitation of children, and those constituting child pornography; and, Provide $30 million a year over five years for the Innocent Images National Initiative.