Bill to Provide Sex Offender Registry to Health Commissioner Heads to Governor

A Senate measure to help protect nursing home residents from sexual predators is on its way to the Governor's desk. The Senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 1707 Tuesday to provide the Sex Offender Registry to the state Commissioner of Health. The measure is authored by Senator David Myers (R-Ponca City) and Rep. Rex Duncan (R-Sand Springs).

"This is just another step in the legislature's fight to protect the public from sexual predators by ensuring that more governmental agencies have access to the registry," said Myers. "Last year, we helped better protect our students in public schools from these monsters and now we're going to do the same for our vulnerable seniors living in nursing facilities."

Myers was also the author of SB 440, which passed in 2005, to provide the registry to State Superintendent of Public Instruction for distribution to school districts. The measure helped improve school districts' ability to check potential employees, as well as current ones, by giving them direct access to the registry.

SB 1707 will allow the Commissioner of Health to distribute information from the registry to any nursing home or long-term care facility. Myers noted that his bill was necessary because last year a bill passed requiring local police departments to distribute the list to nursing homes. However, that is not possible in smaller communities that do not have police departments.

"Nursing facilities are home to thousands of Oklahomans and everyone deserves to feel save in their own home. Families pay a lot of money to have their loved ones stay in these facilities and the last thing they should have to worry about is their safety," said Myers. "This measure is about peace of mind as well as public safety."

The Department of Corrections maintains the Sex Offender Registry and currently makes that information available to all state, county, municipal and college campus law enforcement agencies, as well as the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the National Sex Offender Registry maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

If approved by the Governor, the new law will become effective July 1, 2006.