School districts’ access to criminal records bolstered

Thursday, Sept. 15, 2005 | 10 a.m.

SUN STAFF AND WIRE REPORTS

WASHINGTON -- School districts will have better access to criminal records for teacher background checks, and the federal government may mirror a Nevada law on sex offender registration based on provisions offered by Nevada's members of the House in a bill passed Wednesday.

With an unrecorded voice vote, the House approved an amendment by Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., to allow state and local education agencies immediate access to national criminal information databases to do background checks when hiring teachers.

"We need to ensure that individuals are thoroughly vetted before being entrusted with our children's safety," Porter said in a statement. "By providing local and state education agencies immediate access to national criminal databases, we'll take a major step towards making sure none of these predators or individuals with illicit pasts slip through the cracks."

Criminal background checks are not required for teachers by federal law, according to Porter's office, but this will allow easier access to records for school districts that want to use them.

In a separate unrecorded voice vote, the House also approved an amendment by Rep. Jim Gibbons, R-Nev., to have the Government Accountability Office study the cost for all 50 states to require sex offenders to comply with all registration requirements before they can get a driver's license and renew their licenses each year.

"Nevada leads the nation in our efforts to prevent this despicable crime by requiring sex offenders to be properly registered before they are issued a driver's license," Gibbons said in a statement. "Other states should follow Nevada's lead. I am pleased that today's bill included my amendment to take the first steps towards achieving that goal by determining how all 50 states can best implement similar reforms to Nevada's."

The House approved the broader bill 371-52. The bill creates a national Web site for child sex offenders and calls for sex felons to face up to 20 years in prison for failing to comply with registration requirements.

It also requires felony sex offenders to keep up lifelong registration and authorizes the death penalty for sex crimes resulting in the killing of a child.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said there is a "national crisis" in child sex offenses. He said that of about 550,000 convicted sex offenders in the nation, the whereabouts of 100,000 are unknown to authorities.

Sensenbrenner said the legislation would get favorable treatment in the Senate, and he expected it to be signed into law by the end of the year.

The White House, in a statement, expressed support, saying that even though sex crimes against children have declined significantly in recent years, more needs to be done. It noted that the legislation codified the online National Sex Offender Public Registry that the Justice Department launched earlier this year.

The legislation brings together parts of numerous proposals to protect children from sex offenders, and sections of the bill are named after victims in cases that gained national prominence, including North Dakota college student Dru Sjodin and 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford of Florida.

"We track library books better than we do sexual predators," said Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla. He said he applauded those sex offenders who have served their time and sought treatment, but made clear that under the legislation "they will be monitored, they will be followed and they will be watched."

Among the muted criticisms of the bill were concerns that it could further ostracize people who have paid for their crimes and are trying to live normal lives. Others said new mandatory sentences tie the hands of judges who are best positioned to mete out sentences corresponding to the crime.

Among the provisions of the bill: