A group of bills that would make Florida law as harsh as possible for sexually violent predators is ready for the Senate floor. The bills would track sex predators more closely, punish them more severely and close many loopholes that allow them to commit more crimes.
The Senate Appropriations Committee passed the measures unanimously on Thursday, their last committee stop in the senior chamber. Senate President Don Gaetz has vowed to quickly pass them when the legislative session starts in March.
House Speaker Will Weatherford says his chamber is a week or two behind the Senate, but the chambers are on parallel tracks."It's part of our protecting the vulnerable in our state", Weatherford said. "So it's very important for us to get those bills done and across the goal line. And I think you'll see those bills hopefully passed and signed into law in very short order."
The bills were crafted following reports in the South Florida Sun Sentinel that nearly 600 sexually violent predators had been released only to be convicted of new sex offenses.
Those offenses included more than 460 child molestations, 121 rapes and 14 murders.