In state legislative action this week, an interesting dichotomy between Republican and Democrat leaders has occurred on the issue of enhanced tracking and prosecution of sex offenders across the country.  With many state legislatures in session at this time of year, there are thousands of bills being drafted, filed, heard, voted on and approved every day.  Many of the bills are mundane, keep the trains running on time and the doors of state government open types of issues.  Others are pet project jobbies filed by legislators at the request of their home district constituents and some are along the lines of requiring seatbelts for dogs. 

But some bills are crafted and filed for the betterment and protection of the most vulnerable, and even society as a whole.  Legislation that allows law enforcement to pursue, punish and force sex offenders out into the open would fall into that category.  Several states have bills pending that would require convicted sex offenders to provide all of their email addresses and screen names to authorities so those folks could be tracked and prevented from opening accounts and trolling for victims online.  Admittedly, the approach has its shortcomings – it may not be the most efficient manner in which to track these predators, but the additional protection provided to children would be worth it – heck if only one child was protected, that’s enough. 

The Republican controlled House in Florida agrees.  From the Miami Herald:

“For the first time ever, sex predators would face prison sentences for failing to give authorities their instant messaging and email addresses, as part of a new bill cracking down on crimes against children.

“The proposal, which passed a state House committee unanimously Wednesday and will likely be among the first to pass the full Legislature this spring, also would make it a second-degree felony for a person to meet children for sex after contacting them online or to misrepresent their ages in Internet sex crimes against minors.

“The bill, building off Florida's two-year-old Jessica Lunsford Law, was the brainchild of House Speaker Marco Rubio, a West Miami Republican, and state Attorney General Bill McCollum, whose prosecution powers would be increased to encompass any Internet-related crime.”

The Democrat controlled House in Colorado disagrees.  The Associated Press reports:

“The House Judiciary Committee killed a measure Wednesday that would have required sex offenders to register their e-mail addresses after lawmakers questioned how effective it would be at stopping crime.

“The measure (House Bill 1127) failed on a party-line vote, 6-5.

“Opponents said it would be easy for sex offenders to set up new accounts with new names.”

What’s wrong with this picture? 

Isn’t the top obligation of the state to protect the people? 

Talk about over thinking something – to death. 

I guess Colorado House Democrats would rather think things through for a few more years – maybe do a study to see how many children are actually victimized by online predators – maybe a 10 year study.  Then they could do a follow up study on how those victims, those that survive at least, fair for the next 20 years of their lives – and maybe do a concurrent study (because you don’t want to waste time) about the effects on the victims families, and friends.  Or, they could take steps immediately to stop the animals in their tracks – now – like they’re showing the courage to do in the Republican controlled House in Florida, the Republican controlled House and Senate in Virginia, or even in Congress where Senators John McCain (R-AZ) and Charles Schumer (D-NY) have introduced a bill addressing this very matter. 

How out of step with mainstream family values can these Colorado Democrats be when even Chuck Schumer sees the wisdom in this common-sense legislation? 

I know that Colorado has been trending toward the blue column of late, but come on.  The priorities of these people are misplaced, misapplied, or just flat missing.