Bill seeks to protect kids

State Rep. Donna Hutchinson filed a proposed state law that seeks to protect children in public schools from registered sex offenders.

In a previous legislative session, in 2007, Hutchinson sponsored Act 992 of 2007, which limits access to public schools for convicted Level 3 and Level 4 sexual offenders.

The new law she will propose, which is House Bill 1010, would keep provisions of the Act 992 of 2007 but expand it, also to prohibit anyone who is a Level 2 registered sex offender from knowingly entering upon a public-school campus .

A state law, the Sex Offender Registration Act of 1997, categorizes sex offenders in four categories: Level 1-low risk offenders; Level 2-moderate risk offenders; Level 3-high risk offenders; and Level 4-sexually violent predators.

"I had some schools call me ... They called and said, You promised us, if it was still a problem you'd introduce (a bill) for the second-level (predators). So, I'm going to keep my promise and introduce (a bill) that (says) second-level predators can't enter school grounds, either," Hutchinson said.