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Texas and Many Other States Who Will Not Join National Sex Offender Registry

Posted byHoumanitarian

(Renée C. Lee, Houston Chronicle)
Six years after a bill establishing a national sex offender registry was signed into law, Texas and most other states are not participating.

Texas officials say the national registry is too costly, and it’s willing to risk losing about $1.4 million in grant money that would help local agencies enforce the law.

State lawmakers say the grant money is far less than the estimated $38  million it would cost to modify the state’s registry program.

“We couldn’t afford the national program,” said Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, chair of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee. “The local law enforcement doesn’t have the money, and the state doesn’t have the money.”

Nearly three dozen states have failed to meet all the conditions of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act because of concerns about how it works and how much it would cost. Texas, Arizona, Arkansas, California and Nebraska have opted out of the national registry.

Members of the state Senate Criminal Justice Committee made the decision following an interim meeting two years ago. Local law enforcement officials testified against complying with the act, saying it would add more sex offenders to the state’s already extensive registry.
(Read the full story at the Houston Chronicle)

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