NEW YORK:  PATAKI LOBBIES ALBANY TO ALTER SEX CRIMES LAW

Governor George Pataki yesterday urged the Assembly to vote on broad expansions of Megan's Law before the legislative session ends next month.  Pataki accused the Democratic majority in the Assembly of partisanship has prevented the beefing up of laws designed to help the public monitor convicted pedophiles.  A spokeswoman for Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D-Manhattan) said that the Assembly shared Pataki's desire to protect communities and would work to pass some expansions of Megan's law before the session's close on June 23.  The governor's proposed expansion of the 1996 law would require some Level 3 offenders, the most serious, to be placed in civil custody at a care facility if a judge determined they pose a public threat upon their release from prison.  It would also expand information available to the public on Level 2, or mid-level offenders, and Level 1, the least serious offenders.

(Albany, New York)