Posted: | February 27, 2024 12:38 PM |
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From: | Senator Lisa Baker and Sen. Gene Yaw |
To: | All Senate members |
Subject: | Strengthening Megan's Law |
In 2022, Pennsylvania took an important step in our effort to combat human trafficking by passing Act 144 of 2022. This law, which took effect on January 3, 2023, added human trafficking offenses to the Sexual Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA), commonly known as Megan’s Law. It has since come to our attention that two statutory modifications are needed to ensure that SORNA will be uniformly applied to individuals convicted of Act 144 offenses, as the General Assembly intended. We will introduce legislation to make sure that human traffickers will not escape the full rigors of Megan’s Law based on technicalities, and ask that you join us in this effort. Specifically, our legislation will do two things. First, it will clarify that an individual who is convicted of an attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit an Act 144 offense will similarly be required to register under SORNA, just as a person convicted of the underlying human trafficking offense currently is. Second, our bill would clarify that those individuals convicted of an Act 144 offense are to undergo the sexually violent predator assessment with the Sexual Offender Assessment Board, an assessment that is required of any person who commits a Megan’s Law offense in the Commonwealth. Please join us in supporting this important legislation. |
Introduced as SB1111