Ensuring predatory offenders are where they’re supposed to be is the idea of a bill that received overwhelming House support.
Sponsored by Rep. Tim Miller (R-Prinsburg), HF3370 would allow law enforcement to share registration data on a predatory offender with child protection workers for determination of child residence with the offender.
Following Tuesday’s 127-0 House approval, the bill heads to the Senate where it is sponsored by Sen. Kathy Sheran (DFL-Mankato).
Statutes related to child protection worker duties were previously updated, but a reference was not created in statute to allow the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to share information from the registry with child protection workers whose job it is to decide if a predatory offender is residing in a home.
The bill would also require any information changes provided by a predatory offender to be in writing.
A 2015 Court of Appeals decision in State v. Munger found that statute was not explicit that updates made by a predatory offender, such as a change in address, employment or motor vehicle usage, had to be done in writing, even though it was longstanding practice by the BCA in its predatory offender registry.