ST. LOUIS -- Gov. Jay Nixon joined local law enforcement and victims' advocates Wednesday to discuss the importance of sustaining his veto of House Bill 301, which would remove hundreds of sex offenders from public sex offender websites.
Nixon vetoed the bill in July, citing concerns it would undermine public safety and victims' rights by weakening state laws regarding sexual offenders.
"This legislation would also deny local prosecutors and victims of these horrible crimes the opportunity to be heard before an offender is removed," said Nixon. "The leadership of the House may be ready to help violent sex offenders hide from the public and law enforcement, but their victims, and the millions of Missourians who use these websites to help keep their families safe, are not."
If the Governor’s veto is overridden, House Bill 301 would remove an estimated 870 individuals who committed a sex offense as a juvenile (under 18) from the state and county sexual offender notification websites, and prevent any such individual from being placed on these websites in the future.
This legislation would remove these juvenile sex offenders from the public notification websites regardless of the sexual offense for which they were convicted, including forcible rape, forcible sodomy, and child molestation.
“I do not believe that supporters of this legislation meant for its ramifications to go this far. That’s why after a very thorough and careful review of this legislation in its entirety, I communicated my concerns in my veto message to the legislature last month,” Gov. Nixon said.
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