By GINA KINSLOW
FRANKFORT — A local legislator and Kentucky’s attorney general hosted a press conference Wednes-day to outline their expanded cybersafety legislation that will help keep children safe from online sex predators.
The legislation prohibits sex offenders from using social networking Web sites and requires sex offenders to disclose their Internet communications identies. It also allows the state’s sex offender registration Web site to be accessed to ascertain if an Internet communication identity is associated with a registered sex offender.
Rep. Johnny Bell, D-Glasgow, introduced the bill the Kentucky House of Representatives. It was scheduled come out of committee at noon Wednesday.
“We seem to have strong support in the House. I think it’s a bipartisan bill that I think we need to get passed,” he said. “It’s something to protect the children from pedophiles.”
The bill is the result of coming through state statutes and bringing laws up to date with changes in technology, said Attorney General Jack Conway in a press release.
“I’ve listened to law enforcement officers and parents in every corner of the Commonwealth and this is legislation we desperately need to help keep Kentucky families safe from online predators and criminals,” he said.
Bell introduced a version of the bill during the 2008 General Assembly. The bill passed out of the House with 94 votes but died in the Senate.
“Hopefully, it will make it on through,” he said.
This legislation would be an important first step to protect children from Internet predators,” said Chris Cohron, president of the Kentucky Commonwealth’s Attorney Association.
“Further, this legislation would help prevent the actual sexual abuse of children in this growing problem,” he said.
The latest version of the bill has 21 co-sponsors.
Other provisions in the bill include: Requires sex offenses to update their e-mail addresses and online identifiers with the registry in a similar fashion as they update their physical addresses; the bill codifies the Kentucky State Police Department’s current practice of making e-mails available in a searchable database that is accessible to the public; the bill would further require that online profiles, such as those used on MySpace or Facebook and others.
The legislation is HB 315.
