A little girl's death caused the Legislature to respond by getting tough on sex offenders, as I reported in last week’s article. I also reported that we must come up with the funding to make sure these “get tough” provisions can actually be implemented. Two weeks ago, Republican legislative leaders promised publicly to pay for the tougher penalties, including new money to hold sexual predators in civil commitment after their prison terms expire, to electronically monitor inmates who are released, and to keep a DNA database of all convicted felons.

What the Iowa House Republican promised Iowans was not delivered. Last week, the House debated the Justice Systems budget. This bill covers the expenses of the attorney general, the department of corrections, department of public safety and the department of public defense. These departments will be expected to enforce the new, tougher measures we passed two weeks ago.

Unfortunately, the method the majority party chose to pay for the new provisions involves “robbing Peter to pay Paul.” In the end, these departments will still not have the resources they need to “get tough” on sexual offenders and other criminals. I voted NO on the inadequate Justice Systems appropriations bill.

For example, the new measures will require all sex offenders who are on probation or parole to wear a global position ankle bracelet so their movements can be followed. My fellow Democrats and I sought to provide the Department of Corrections (DOC) with the $2.3 million needed to obtain the bracelets and to hire staff to handle the actual monitoring.

Instead, the majority party is stealing money from other programs that are already in place to monitor parolees. The DOC has laid off more than a hundred prison guards due to lower funding, making those institutions more dangerous. As a result, we may have fewer guards in already understaffed prisons. And, our communities and children will be no safer.

Another provision requires that any individual on the sex offender registry must submit to DNA profiling. This will make it easier to arrest an individual if he or she re-offends. But there is a cost of about $40 for each DNA test. The

Department of Public Safety needs more than $1 million to accomplish this ambitious goal.

My fellow Democrats and I attempted to provide the money they need to achieve the goal, but instead, the majority party is stealing money from public safety’s already meager funding to cover this new program. As a result, there may be fewer troopers on the highway, fewer lab technicians to match DNA results, and fewer investigators to help in sexual abuse cases. Our communities and our children will be no safer.

When a horrible crime occurs, public officials run to the microphones and demand tough, new laws to protect the public. That’s what happened when Jetseta Gage was kidnapped and murdered several weeks ago. It was a horrible crime and the legislators and the public had a right to be outraged. The Legislature moved quickly to tighten state laws in the hopes that another child would not be a victim of a sexual abuser.

However, we should not just talk the talk; we also need to walk the walk. In other words, we cannot just shuffle money around. We have to make a commitment to fund these programs, not just steal the funding from other crime fighting and public safety programs already in place. If we do not, the promise of safer communities is just a hoax.

You can write me at the State Capitol, Des Moines, IA 50319; call 515/281-3221 or e-mail me at ro.foege@legis.state.ia.us.

Ro

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