PROVIDENCE, RI - The legislature took two big steps yesterday toward tracking sex offenders who prey on children -- they would be monitored for a lifetime with satellite locating devices.

Two similar bills, passed by the House and by the Senate Judiciary Committee, would go well beyond requirements that sex offenders register their addresses with the police, requirements that the bills' supporters said are too easily ignored.

The bills would increase the minimum penalty for first degree sexual assault on someone 14 or younger from 20 to 25 years imprisonment, and punish people who harbor sexual predators with prison sentences.

The state Parole Board has said the bills would affect about 400 sex offenders.

Sen. James E. Doyle II, D-Pawtucket, sponsor of the Senate bill, said he hopes for a vote by the full Senate next week. Governor Carcieri has said he supports the legislation.

Like the previous generation of sexual-offender legislation, called Megan's Law here and in other states, this one is named after a child victim, a 9-year-old Florida girl, Jessica Lunsford, who was killed, allegedly by a convicted sex offender who had moved in near her home without telling the police.

The bill's sponsor in the House, Rep. Peter G. Palumbo, D-Cranston, said lifetime monitoring is needed because, "You can't rehabilitate child molesters." He said that not passing his bill would send child molesters the message, "Come to Rhode Island."

For monitoring, the legislation refers to Global Positioning System, the satellite system widely used for navigation, surveying and by the military.
The only opposition yesterday came in the House, where Rep. Edith Ajello, D-Providence, suggested that the legislation fails to address the main sources of child sexual abuse: 90 percent of child sexual abuse is committed by relatives or other people known to the family, she said. The state, she said, should spend more on training children, parents and teachers on how to avoid abuse.

Ajello and Rep. Arthur Handy, D-Cranston, were the only votes against the House bill. The Senate committee vote on Doyle's bill was unanimous.
To become law, both chambers must pass identical legislation. Doyle said one significant remaining difference is the House version's inclusion of those who have sex with persons 14 or younger. Doyle said the intent of the legislation is to deal with violent predators, those who kidnap and torture, and the like. He said Palumbo has agreed to change the House bill.

Doyle said he tried, and gave up on, a mechanism frequently used by states trying to keep sexual predators away from children -- buffer zones, areas around schools, playgrounds, parks and other places where children are likely to be found and where sexual predators are barred. States found that such provisions often left convicted sex offenders with no place they could legally live.