Senator Onorato Calls For Senate-assembly Cooperation On Sex Offender Legislation

State Senator George Onorato (D-Queens), who voted on January 9th to approve legislation requiring lifetime registration for all convicted sex offenders in New York, today said that it’s time for the Senate and Assembly to come together and negotiate a bill that both houses of the Legislature can accept and that the Governor will sign into law.

"I joined with the vast majority of my Senate colleagues in passing a bill that would ensure that we know the whereabouts of all convicted sex offenders over the course of their entire lifetimes," said Senator Onorato. "At the same time, the Assembly demonstrated its commitment to this issue by passing legislation that would continue registration through next March in anticipation of federal action on a national sex offender registry."

Continuing, Senator Onorato said, "The bottom line is this: it’s time to convene a Senate and Assembly conference committee to hammer out an intelligent, bipartisan solution to this issue in an open public forum. After all, that’s the way government is supposed to work."

The Senator noted that January 21st marks the tenth anniversary of New York’s sex offender registry, commonly known as "Megan’s Law." Under the original law, the names and addresses of lower-level (Level I and II) sex offenders only need to be listed on the registry for ten years, while Level III offenders must report their addresses for life. Under the terms of existing law, almost 170 lower-level sex offenders will soon be dropped from the registry unless action is taken to keep them listed. In the absence of any legislative action in 2006, as many as 3,500 offenders could by dropped from the registry by year’s end.

"I believe that the Senate and Assembly are both committed to protecting our children and families from convicted sex offenders living in our neighborhoods," said Senator Onorato, noting that he also hopes the Legislature will come to an agreement on civil commitment legislation to keep sexual predators off the streets. "We can’t let bipartisan bickering and gridlock stand in the way of accomplishing one of our most basic goals: ensuring public safety."