Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry; expands the Supplement to the Registry. (HB1687)

Introduced By

Sen. Emily Brewer (R-Suffolk)

Progress

Introduced
Passed Committee
Passed House
Passed Senate
Signed by Governor
Became Law

Description

Supplement to the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry. Expands the Supplement to the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry to include information on persons who were convicted of certain sexual offenses on or after July 1, 1970, and before July 1, 1994, who are not currently on the Registry, and persons convicted of former sexual offenses on or after July 1, 1970 and before October 1, 1975, who are not currently on the Registry. The Supplement currently includes information on such persons who were convicted on or after July 1, 1980, and before July 1, 1994. Read the Bill »

Outcome

Bill Has Failed

History

DateAction
01/09/2023Committee
01/09/2023Prefiled and ordered printed; offered 01/11/23 23100820D
01/09/2023Referred to Committee for Courts of Justice
01/19/2023Assigned Courts sub: Subcommittee #1
01/20/2023House subcommittee amendments and substitutes offered
01/20/2023Subcommittee recommends reporting with substitute (8-Y 0-N)
01/23/2023Reported from Courts of Justice with substitute (19-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/23/2023Committee substitute printed 23104989D-H1
01/25/2023Read first time
01/26/2023Read second time
01/26/2023Committee substitute agreed to 23104989D-H1
01/26/2023Engrossed by House - committee substitute HB1687H1
01/27/2023Read third time and passed House BLOCK VOTE (98-Y 0-N)
01/27/2023VOTE: Block Vote Passage (98-Y 0-N) (see vote tally)
01/30/2023Impact statement from DPB (HB1687H1)
01/30/2023Constitutional reading dispensed
01/30/2023Referred to Committee on the Judiciary
02/08/2023Passed by indefinitely in Judiciary (9-Y 6-N) (see vote tally)

Comments

Mary D. Devoy writes:

A brochure bill just in time for the next Virginia House election.

Also is the exact same bill as Delegate Brewer's HB5089 which is a data dump of 1970-1979 convictions, but JUST for people convicted of sex crimes.

In 2023 they may be dead, they may live in another state or yes they may still live in Virginia.

If they are a recidivist then they are on the official VSP SOR for convictions from 1994-present where they are monitored and must register regularly under the threat of a new felony.

The rest who are not recidivists, have a conviction from 44 to 53 years ago but they aren't on the official VSP SOR because they have not been convicted of a new sex crime in 4-6 decades. They've paid their debt to society, they did everything the court/state asked of them at the time of their conviction and we should be proud of them for that, we should support them in that, not punish them with being added to this useless and outdated online Supplemental Registry.

If Delegate Brewer wants to put all criminal convictions in Virginia for the last 53 years online, then go ahead and do that. But stop adding older and older sexual convictions to a outdated "supplemental" list so you can publicly call them a sex offender because you can't legally force them to register as an official sex offender.

The Supplemental Registry is used by Virginia Legislators to gain points with voters when listing their legislative accomplishments and to repunish people decades later.

The Supplemental Registry was created because one man wanted to punish his abuser who was already on the VSP SOR for an earlier conviction, but he wanted the man on a second public list. Sadly the Virginia Legislature enabled his hate by creating the list. Then that man had a bill proposed at a later session so his abuser could not have a license plate on his vehicle supporting children's causes/charities and again the Virginia Legislature enabled his hate by passing that law.

Neither of these 2 laws has any value and they offer zero protection to Virginians.

They are what I call Legislative Predator Hysteria.

But that doesn't stop some lawmakers from proposing more changes to VA Code, especially in an election year.

Tammie Lawson writes:

I oppose this bill as the sex offender registry has an overload now of offenders with no mechanism for removal. Adding more offenders from years ago is a waste of tax payers dollars it provides a false sense of security and provides no protection, why are we going back years ago and placing individuals of a public registry they wasn’t there before and are living productive lives. Do you know they been monitoring me for twenty years as your expenses and I am a role model citizen with all my rights back did you know that prison was my punishment and that I never harmed any children I reported a Sex crime to the police and other authorities now I’m labeled for life with no mechanism for relief in the court because the legislation has set the bar so high that a judge has no discretionary rule in his own court room The judge here wanted to remove unfortunately he didn’t have the power to do so. Adding old offenders to a public registry is harmful to our community and waste our money

Ut Prosim writes:

The Commonwealth through its unmanaged Supplemental Registry continues to publicly malign citizens for a crime committed in the distant past. Expanding the unmanaged registry in no way enhances public safety. The issue is the publication of the § 9.1-923. Supplement to the Sex Offender and Crimes Against Minors Registry required by the 2015 memorial "Robby's Rule" law. Virginia State Police makes no attempt to manage the list. Even from its initial publication, the supplement has included deceased citizens. It still lists numerous decedents. Expanding the Supplement serves no public safety purpose. The original Supplement never did. It was another wasteful attempt at government to pacify one victim. The attached recommendation would better serve the Commonwealth.

J B Crenshaw writes:

Please oppose HB1687, which would expand the Supplemental Sex Offender Registry by adding the names of senior citizens 70-plus-years-old who made a mistake four or five decades ago.

These individuals have now rebuilt their lives, paid their debt to society, done everything the court/state asked of them. We should be proud of them and support them, not punish them with this useless and outdated online Supplemental Registry.

HB1687, Expanding the Supplemental Registry, will not protect the public. It is an example of panicked legislation and crime control theater.