State Rep. Todd Smith has an op-ed piece in today's Star-Telegram criticizing Gov. Perry for vetoing one of his bills. Smith, a Republican from Euless, also suggests that Perry didn't properly understand the bill before he vetoed it.
SB 3148 would have allowed certain low-level sex offenders to petition a judge to be removed from the state's sex offender registry. The bill passed through the Legislature relatively easy and faced little organized opposition.
"Gov. Rick Perry vetoed one of the most morally compelling bills I have ever filed in the Texas House," Smith wrote.
Perry said in his veto statement that he couldn't sign the bill because "sex offenders would be eligible to petition a court for an exemption from sex offender registration, regardless of the age of the victim." However, Smith's bill only applied to cases where an offender was convicted of having consensual sex with someone who was at least 14 and not more than four years younger than the defendant.
"Perry apparently believes that every teenager who has a consensual relationship with someone more than three years, but less than four years younger should be labeled for life as a sex offender," Smith wrote.
-Aman Batheja
The sex offender registry is too cluttered. It should only include people who have committed felonies in the past AND are likely of hurting others in the future. If you were a teenager in love with someone "barely illegal" for you, if you were young and foolish and have your life the past few years proves you have grown up, or if you've had some other life-changing event like a debilitating injury or even a bona fide, proven-with-time personality change, you have no business cluttering up the list. It's much better to have a list with 1000 dangerous people than a list of 1000 dangerous people and 10,000 who are not dangerous.
Posted by: davidwr | June 29, 2009 at 04:01 PM
On this one, I have to side with Gov. Perry! This is right-the Law is the Law!
Posted by: Rickey Benningfield | June 29, 2009 at 08:10 PM
So I wonder which one of Smith's 18 year old relatives was having sex with a 14 year old.
Posted by: MAark | June 30, 2009 at 11:23 AM
This is typical; Perry is a moron, and you just can't argue that fact. Todd has done Northeast Tarrant county proud in the State House, and this common sense bill passed and should have been signed (or could have been allowed to become law without the governor's signature), but nooooo, the Aggie with the hairdo thinks he knows best...I am not a big Kay bailey fan, but I hope she flat out embarrasses him in the primary...maybe he'll head to West Texas and stay there...
Posted by: Southlake resident and lifelong Texan | June 30, 2009 at 02:32 PM
Perry vetoing pervert protection.
Let me guess - Smith is a Democrat.
Posted by: Keith Wilson | July 01, 2009 at 07:13 AM
Hey Keith Wilson, you guessed wrong. he is a repub. here is his site:
http://www.toddsmithrep.com/
Do some research next time.
Posted by: Rick | July 02, 2009 at 09:12 PM