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| FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
| State Rep. Eugene DePasquale |
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DePasquale: Governor signs Adam Walsh bill
HARRISBURG, Dec. 20 – At a bill signing ceremony at the state Capitol today, state Rep. Eugene DePasquale, D-York, joined colleagues as Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law a bill to better protect Pennsylvania's children from sexual offenders.
The bill, S.B. 1183, also known as the "Adam Walsh bill," brings the Commonwealth in compliance with the federal Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. Pennsylvania will become part of a coordinated and comprehensive national sex offender registry and will be required to meet strict standards for posting offender information on a centralized Internet database. The act was named for Adam Walsh who was abducted from a Florida shopping mall and later found murdered.
The bill also closes loopholes in Megan's Law regarding homeless offenders and out-of-state offenders to ensure that they register under Megan's Law and more carefully track their whereabouts.
"I'm proud to join my colleagues today for this bill signing," DePasquale said. "I've long been an advocate for strengthening Pennsylvania's sexual offender laws and closing loopholes to keep our children safe. This law will align us with other states to better track and enforce our offenders, laws and reporting requirements."
DePasquale said the legislation also increases the amount of information collected from each offender and requires Pennsylvania to include more information on its Megan's Law website. In addition, Pennsylvania State Police would be required to communicate registration information with federal, state and local police departments more quickly than they currently do.
Under the law, registration requirements extend also to juvenile offenders who commit rape, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault or an attempt or conspiracy to commit these offenses.
And finally, the law expands the list of sexually violent offenses subject to the law and groups offenders into multiple classifications, depending on the severity of the offense.
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