NEWS . . . FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Tuesday, May 27, 2008
From: Martin Hawley, the Office of State Representative Calvin Hill

CHEROKEE LEGISLATORS PRESENT NATIONAL LEGISLATION

Hot Springs, Arkansas

 Saturday, May 17th, Representative Charlice [R-Woodstock] presented her “Government Accountability Act” to the American Legislative Exchange Council” (ALEC) at their annual task force meeting. This bill, when accepted by this prestigious organization of Legislators will turned into model legislation for all states to adopt.

“It was honor to present such significant legislation at the ALEC task force meeting and look forward its acceptance during the annual meeting of the entire membership in Chicago,” stated Byrd. “Being one of only a few Legislators from throughout the country that were chosen to represent their states at this meeting and present legislation shows respect for Representative Byrd and her leadership on such forward thinking issues. As the State Chairman for ALEC I cannot think of a better representative of Georgia in this matter,” remarked Representative Ron Forester, Chairman of the Interstate Cooperation Committee of the House.

The Government Accountability Act would require state departments, agencies, commissions and authorities to come under periodic review by a Legislative Sunset Committee. Under the proposal, the Sunset Committee could recommend changes to the mission, a merger with other departments or agencies, a total repeal of the entity or a refocus of responsibilities.

The previous day Representative Calvin Hill’s model legislation “Online Safety, To Pursue and Control Child Predators”, was unanimously passed by the Telecommunications & Information Technology Task Force. Hill will then carry the bill to the floor of the Annual meeting in Chicago for final adoption for all states to use.

Upon passage, Representative Hill, who is a member of the Executive Committee of the Task Force, remarked that “this bill follows very closely legislation that we passed in Georgia this year and will be a boon to law enforcement agencies throughout the nation as they pursue the sick individuals who prey on our youngsters.”

Supported in the private sector by Steve DelBianco, Executive Director of  ACT, an Association ofnearly 3000 software developers, and e-businesses from across the country, including such well know names as eBay, Orbitz and Microsoft. Wireless companies such as AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Alltel also supported the bill once some technical difficulties were worked out.

The bill creates free parental controls for internet sites, provides for internet safety education curricula for schools, requires online monitoring and registration of convicted sex offenders, allows preservation of online records upon request of law enforcement, before the evidence disappears and permits computer service providers to report images of child pornography to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children It also provides legal definitions of Internet Sexual Exploitation of a child, Internet Luring of a child and Age Misrepresentation with Intent to Solicit a Minor. These legal definitions will provide local and Federal law enforcement agencies much needed tools in investigation and apprehension of Internet Sexual Predators, hopefully before the molest on of our children.                 

For more information on ALEC and its mission go to www.alec.org on the internet.      

# # #

WWW.CALVINHILL.ORG