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The number of lawsuits accusing priests in Vermont’s Roman Catholic Diocese of sexual abuse continues to grow, as do the church’s financial worries.  The church faced 16 lawsuits about alleged sex abuse, much of it dating back decade, when it reached a $985,000 settlement of one of the suits last April.  Now it faces 26 civil cases and is following the case of a priest facing a current criminal charge.  The Rev. Stephen J. Nichols, 47, is scheduled to go on trial in April in Saint Albans for felony lewd

Zachary’s Law, named after 10 year old Zachary Snider of Cloverdale who was molested and murdered by a neighbor who was a convicted child molester.  The law was passed in 1994 and requires offenders convicted of specified sex and violent crimes to register with local law enforcement agencies in the area where they reside or intend to reside for more than seven days.  Local law enforcement agencies must notify the Indiana Criminal Justice Institute when an offender registers locally so that the Institute can add the offender to the Indiana

In October of 1993, 12 year old Polly Hannah Klaas, was abducted at knife-point by Richard Allen Davis during a slumber party from her Petaluma, California home. Thousands of residents from the surrounding community immediately responded with the largest manhunt in American history.  Then on a cold evening in December, the media reported that Polly, America’s Child, was not found alive. The country was outraged and the public cried out for change in legislation and pro-active in crime prevention.  Marc Klaas, Polly’s father, immediately dove into a campaign to put

Senate Sponsor: Senator James Lack (S2162A)

assembly Sponsor: Assemblyman Steven Englebright (A3714)

Requires children`s camps to ascertain whether any prospective employee is listed in the sex offender registry.                                           

Senate Sponsor:  Senator James Lack (S2164

Assembly Sponsor: Assemblyman Steven Englebright)

Requires that contracts for the sale or lease of residential real property include a notice that information on high risk sex offenders is available to the public and that the division of criminal justice services maintain a 900 telephone number through which sex offender information is available on specific individuals.

Senate Sponsor: Senator Dean Skelos (420-A)

Assembly Sponsor:Weisenberg (A5897-A)                                               

COSPNSR   ALESI, LAVALLE, MALTESE, MAZIARZ, MCGEE, MORAHAN, NOZZOLIO, PADAVAN,RATH, SEWARD                                                        

PASSED

Requires every sex offender who is required to register with the division of criminal justice services to provide the name and address of any institution of higher education at which such offender is employed in any capacity, enrolled or attending, and requires such offenders to state whether they will be residing in a facility owned or operated by such an institution; in such       

instances, the