A bipartisan group of Florida lawmakers has filed a raft of bills for the 2014 legislative session aimed at keeping children safe from sex offenders. The bills would beef up the sentencing and monitoring of sexual predators.
Senate President Don Gaetz calls the package of bills this year’s “centerpiece” and says he looks forward to sending it to Gov. Scott early in the session.
Sen. Rob Bradley (R-Orange Park) is sponsoring a bill that would lengthen criminal sentences and monitoring of predators.
"I can’t think of anything more important that the government does than protect our most vulnerable, our children, from people who will do them harm," he says.
Bradley says part of his motivation is personal after his district endured the 2009 murder of 7-year-old Somer Thompson.
Other bills in the package would:
- reform the mental health evaluation system for offenders released from prison
- require sexual predators to report more to the state about their whereabouts and activities