|
Legislation strengthens sex offender registration
Protecting Illinois citizens by making more information available
about registered sex offenders is the aim of legislation passed by
the House on April 25.
Sex offenders are currently required to provide local police with
their name, address, date of birth and the offense for which they
were convicted.
Senate Bill 3016 would require them to include the county of
conviction, their age at the time of the offense, license plate
numbers of any cars registered in their name and any distinguishing
marks on their body. Offenders would also be required to register
every 180 days.
Senate Bill 3016 also requires school officials to notify parents
during school registration or during parent-teacher conferences that
this additional information is available on the Sex Offender
Registry.
The legislation returns to the Senate for concurrence with
changes made in the House.
Protecting families of fallen soldiers from protests
With legislation approved by the Illinois lawmakers, the families
of fallen soldiers will be protected from hate-filled protests at
funeral services.
[to top of second column] |
Senate Bill 1144 creates the "Let Them Rest in Peace Act" to
prohibit loud and inflammatory protests within 200 feet of all
Illinois funeral services. The restriction extends from 30 minutes
before a funeral until 30 minutes after the funeral.
The legislation was inspired by the hate-filled actions of the
Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kansas, a fundamentalist group
that pickets the burials of soldiers killed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Approved by the House of Representatives April 25 and by the
Senate April 5, Senate Bill 1144 now moves to the governor's desk
for consideration and will become law with his signature.
Three weeks and counting
It's been three weeks since the Democratic-controlled General
Assembly missed its scheduled April 7 adjournment deadline.
The House of Representatives did meet last week, on April 25 and
26.
The Senate was scheduled to return to Springfield on April 25,
but Democratic leaders canceled that date. The Senate's next
scheduled session date is tomorrow (Tuesday).
[Column from
Sen. Bill Brady]
 |
