Donnelly pledges to strengthen sexual predator & child safety laws

Marshall Griffin, KWMU

JEFFERSON CITY, MO (2008-07-03) Missouri House Member and Democratic Attorney General Candidate Margaret Donnelly says she'll work to strengthen sexual predator and product safety laws if elected.

At a press conference this morning in Jefferson City, Donnelly told reporters that she would renew her quest for The Children's Product Safety Act, a bill she sponsored this year that died in the State House.

"This bill makes the recalls of toys and children's products mandatory, and requires the retailers and manufacturers to remove the products in a timely manner or face a fine of up to $500 a day," Donnelly said.

Donnelly also says she'll work to make Missouri's sexual predator registry guidelines comply with federal standards.

She added that she would create a fugitive unit within the Attorney General's office.

"It will be used to track down sexual predators that violate their parole or fail to register...the Attorney General is charged within the Adam Walsh Act of monitoring the sex offender registry, and this fugitive unit will be part of that effort," Donnelly said.

She also voiced support for background checks for school employees and bus drivers, which were the subject of two recent state audits.

Donnelly faces fellow House Member Jeff Harris and State Senator Chris Koster in the August 5th Democratic primary.

The winner faces Senate President Pro-tem and Republican Attorney General candidate Michael Gibbons in November.

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