House Committee Vote Summary

This bill, and the extensive amendment that goes with it are designed to address two revealed problems with the commonwealth’s Megan’s Law, as represented in two recent appellate cases wherein the defendants were ordered discharged after their convictions were vacated. The first case, decided in late 2009, concerned a known sex offender who, after release from prison, had failed to register an address because he was homeless. The court, reading the statutes critically and strictly, as they are required to do, found that Pennsylvania’s Megan’s Law did not expressly cover homeless or transient offenders. The second case was a bit more complex. Decided in March, it involved the prosecution of a New York offender who moved to Pennsylvania, registered properly, but failed to update his information after changing his address. His defense to a prosecution for this failure, revealed a drafting flaw in Megan’s Law, which compelled his discharge. While the bill addresses the homeless and/or transient sex offender, the amendment addresses the latter situation. It is so lengthy because of the need to conform the corrective language in both areas to the whole range of statutes which make up the chapter comprising our Megan’s Law.