Senate Democrats Call on House Republicans to Join Bipartisan Effort to Pass Jessica's Law

Renewed Call for Action During Special Session

Photo By: Tim King

(SALEM) - After working behind the scenes for months, Senate Democrats last week made public their intention to pass Jessica`s Law during special session and released a comprehensive proposal that goes beyond both the House bill from last session and this year`s proposed ballot measure.

`The Legislature has an opportunity to lead on this issue, and our proposal provides a roadmap for doing exactly that," said Senate Majority Leader Kate Brown.

Today, Brown welcomed an announcement indicating that Senate Republicans also are willing to pass Jessica`s Law during special session.

`I`m glad that the Senate is now united and that our Senate Republican colleagues agree with us that this issue warrants the Legislature`s attention during special session ` now we just have to convince the House leadership to get on board," said Brown. `I also agree with Senate Republicans that this important measure should not be tied to any other subject matter and stands on its own as a legislative imperative for special session."

The Democratic proposal to toughen penalties for sexual predators corrects many of the problems with the watered-down bill that the House Republicans passed in the final hours of the 2005 session. By sending that bill to the Senate with less than a week left in session, House Republicans knew there would be inadequate time to address its deficiencies.

The Democratic proposal adds the following provisions missing from the 2005 House legislation:

Increased mandatory minimums for all first-degree sexual predators who commit their crimes using force; Increased mandatory minimums for all first-degree sexual predators who victimize mentally and physically incapacitated people; and increased mandatory minimums for kidnapping in furtherance of a sex crime.

`Under the House bill, a 45-year-old adult who is convicted of violently raping a 13-year-old child would not be subject to an increased mandatory minimum," noted Brown. `Under our proposal, that rapist and all violent rapists will be subject to increased mandatory minimums, as well as lifetime monitoring."

Reports From Iraq

Salem-News.com Top Stories
Racism Mars Spring for Many Foreigners and Palestinians in Lebanon

---

Cannabis Intelligence Contest: Medical Marijuana Patients Vs Dwight Holton... the Patients Won

---

Egypt's Presidential Elections: A Revolution at the Crossroads (Video)

---

Israel's Nuclear Whistle Blower's June 6 Appeal Seeking Revocation of Citizenship as the Way to Freedom from Israel

---

Sri Lanka's Missing Thousands

---

Name:

Enter the text from the image to confirm you are human.(Cookies are required)

HTML tags and certain characters are removed - (numbers, letters only or post may be cut short.) certain words are banned to stop spammers. All comments and messages are approved by people and self promotional links or unacceptable comments are denied.