Revised Lunsford bill passed

Thursday, March 9, 2006

Post a comment | E-mail this story | Print

Click here for enlarged image.

The Jessica Lunsford Bill is making its way back into the session this year.

The criminal justice committee of the Florida House of Representatives passed a bill to fix glitches in the 2005 bill Wednesday.

The bill would require convicted sexual offenders and sexual predators to have a Florida driver's license or Florida ID noting their conviction on the front of the card. The designation would be required by August 15.

The bill prohibits any sexual offender or sexual predator from being present on school grounds for business purposes. It would also require anyone under contract with the school board to notify his employer within 48 hours if charged with an offense that could put them on the sexual predator register.

The bill is named after Lunsford, who was abducted from her Homosassa bedroom then raped and killed in February of 2005. The man charged in the case, John Couey, is a convicted sexual offender who worked in constuction at Lunsford's school. There is, however, no known connection between Couey's work at Lunsford's school and her abduction.

Information from Bay News 9's partner, the Citrus County Chronicle, was used in this report.