SENATE BILL NO. 185 "An Act relating to sex offenders and child kidnappers." SENATOR BILL WIELECHOWSKI, presented an overview of the bill updating the sex offender list to include the email addresses and electronic identifiers of convicted sex offenders and child kidnappers. He remarked that Alaska has one of the highest internet uses in the country and one of highest percentage of sex offenders in the nation. He argued that the bill provides a powerful tool for law enforcement to track the activities of convicted sex offenders and catch and punish them when they break the law. Alaska currently requires sex offenders to register their home addresses and places of employment but there is, at present, no way to track their internet communication. Senator Wielechowski reviewed the bill sections. He noted that: Section 1 makes not registering the sex offender's email a crime. Section 2, Page 3, line 4-6 added the definition of what must be registered. Section 3 states that the email must be registered within one day. Section 4 has two components, which were added after statements from the Senate State Affairs Committee. Section 4, paragraph 2, is a request from Senator Stevens to make this information available to the central registries of internet service providers. Section 5 is the applicability section describing the dates and times the bill goes into effect. 9:49:21 AM Co-Chair Stedman questioned the deletion of "knowingly" on Page 1, line 6. GEORGE ASCOTT, STAFF, SENATOR WIELECHOWSKI, explained that the word was deleted on the advice of drafter, Jerry Lukup, Legislative Affairs legal. 9:50:26 AM Co-Chair Stedman asked what restrictions are placed on access to computers for sex offenders. Senator Wielechowski remarked that this bill does not impact the use of computers by sex offenders; the bill simply requires them to register their email addresses. 9:50:42 AM Senator Thomas requested an explanation on Page 3, lines 22- 31, on how someone could substantiate if their child was having an internet conversation with a sex offender. 9:51:37 AM Senator Wielechowski revealed that the original plan was to generate a public list of sex offenders but the Department of Public Safety realized this could be used by sex offenders to network with one another to share pornography. He explained there would be a system in place, within a federal office, where parents could type in the email address or identifier of an individual and find out if that person is a registered sex offender. 9:52:15 AM Senator Elton questioned why the registration fee was assessed to the state and not the sex offender. 9:53:33 AM KATHY MONFREDA, CHIEF OF CRIMINAL RECORDS AND IDENTIFICATION BUREAU, DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY, testified via teleconference in support of the bill. She remarked that the issue of having sex offenders pay for the registration had occurred in the past but the purpose of the bill is to get the sex offender to register and many offenders are indigent and may not be able to pay. 9:54:48 AM KAREN FOSTER, SURVIVING PARENTS COALITION, testified via teleconference, and supported the bill. Ms. Foster, the mother of Bonnie Craig who was murdered in 1994, shared the statistics of child pornography and sexual predators. She believed the bill would give law enforcement an incredible tool to see if a registered sex offender is doing something illegal on the computer. Ms. Foster stressed that this bill will provide detailed information and evidence that will help prosecute the offenders and provide more time to rescue victims. 9:59:01 AM PEYTON MERIDETH, DETECTIVE, FAIRBANKS POLICE DEPARTMENT testified via teleconference, supported SB 185 on behalf of the Fairbanks Police Department and Chief of Police, Dan Hoffman. Mr. Peyton reported that he was the Agency Representative for Fairbanks Police Department on the Alaska Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. He remarked that one of his jobs is to investigate child pornography cases in conjunction with the Anchorage Police Department and other statewide task force members. He felt that it would greatly aid law enforcement if sex offenders had to register their email or other internet identifiers so that when the police department was researching proactive cases against children, the offenders could be identified earlier. 10:01:51 AM Senator Thomas questioned the number of registered child sex offenders or child kidnappers in Alaska. Detective Meredith responded he did not know but suggested contacting the Department of Public Safety. Ms. Monfreda replied that there are 4200 registered sex offenders in Alaska. 10:03:04 AM RON TIDLER, DETECTIVE, ANCHORAGE POLICE DEPARTMENT, testified via teleconference, and supported this bill on behalf of the Anchorage Police Department and the Alaska Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force. 10:03:41 AM ANNE CARPENETI, ASSISTANT ATTORNEY GENERAL, LEGAL SERVICES SECTION-JUNEAU, CRIMINAL DIVISION, DEPARTMENT OF LAW, spoke to the drafting of this law. She explained that it is not necessary to put "knowingly" into the bill; it will be read that way by the judge. 10:04:34 AM Senator Olson questioned if this bill would apply to any one who may be downloading sexual material. Senator Wielechowski replied that the bill only applies to convicted sex offenders. Co-Chair Stedman referenced an earlier presentation on this issue and noted the ability of the law enforcement arm to monitor downloading and uploading of sexual material by offenders. He reported that law enforcement has the capability of pinpointing neighborhoods where the computer resides. He stressed that the scope and magnitude of sex offenders on the internet in Alaska is alarming. 10:06:49 AM Co-Chair Hoffman MOVED to REPORT SB 185 (STA) out of Committee with individual recommendations and the accompanying fiscal notes. There being NO OBJECTION, it was so ordered. SB 185 (STA) was REPORTED out of Committee with a "do pass" recommendation and accompanying new zero fiscal notes from the Department of Corrections and the Department of Administration and previously published fiscal notes from the Department of Administration, Department of Law, and the Department of Public Safety. 10:07:56 AM