Senate Panel Passes Sex Offender Bill Without ‘Hate Crimes’ Language     10/20/2005
By Robert Knight

Kennedy threatens to add amendment during full Senate vote, or attach it to another bill.

The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee today passed on voice vote S. 1086, the Senate version of “The Child Safety Act,” without the “hate crimes” language that passed in the House in September.

This is good news for pro-family Americans. However, CWA has learned that Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) might introduce the “hate crimes” amendment when the bill, which tightens laws regarding sex offenders, comes to the Senate floor. No timeline has been given for a full Senate vote.

Sen. Kennedy also reportedly may try to add the “hate crimes” language to another, unrelated bill, S. 1088, “The Streamlined Procedures Act of 2005,” which deals with the appeals process in criminal cases.

Mr. Kennedy may have gotten the word that many people have been warning the Senate not to approve his amendment to the Senate version of the sex offender bill, so he may be trying to slip it in under the radar.

That type of strategy worked in September, when, with no notice, the “hate crimes” amendment by Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan) to add “sexual orientation” to federal “hate crimes” law and greatly expand federal police power, was rushed through the House in 40 minutes as part of “The Child Safety Act.”

Sponsored by Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), the Senate version of that bill that passed in the Judiciary Committee today is called “The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.” This bill is different in several ways from the House version, not just in its exclusion of the “hate crimes” language, so there probably will be a fight on the Senate floor if and when it reaches there. Mr. Kennedy reportedly dislikes many aspects of the bill.

Take Action:
CWA is urging Americans to call your U.S. senators and urge them not to approve any “hate crimes” legislation, no matter where it is attached.

And also please call Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) and urge him to see that this dangerous bill will not emerge in any form.

Capitol Hill Switchboard: (202) 224-3121

To read more about this legislation's dangers, see the new Special Reports by Concerned Women for America’s Culture & Family Institute:

The Federal Hate Crimes Bill: Federalizing Criminal Law While Threatening Civil Liberties

'Hate Crime' Laws: An Assault on Freedom
For Real: Many Well-Publicized 'Hate Crimes' Were Staged

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