For Immediate Release:                                  Contact: Colin Manning
Tuesday, March 18, 2008                                 (603) 271-2121
                                                               
Gov. Lynch Applauds Senate Committee's Vote in Support of The Online Child Safety Act

Act Was Developed With the Attorney General and Law Enforcement; Builds on Child Protection Act of 2006

CONCORD - Gov. John Lynch today thanked the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for continuing to work with him to protect children from sexual predators by supporting the Online Child Safety Act.

"People who prey on our children are among the most dangerous criminals. They target our most precious and our most vulnerable citizens," Gov. Lynch said. "We must make sure we have the laws we need to protect our children from the threats of the 21st century and that is what this legislation does. I want to thank the members of the Senate Judiciary Committee for supporting the state's continuing efforts to protect children from these dangerous criminals."

The legislation, developed with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers, the Attorney General and New Hampshire's law enforcement community, modernizes the state's laws to better protect children from sexual predators who use the Internet. The legislation builds on the Child Protection Act passed in 2006, which is one of the country's toughest laws to protect children from sexual predators.

The bill strengthens the penalties in existing law for enticing a child over the Internet, and provides enhanced penalties for repeat offenders; it overhauls and expands existing child pornography laws to better reflect the victimization that occurs everyday when images of sexually abused children are created and distributed; and it closes a loophole so that sex offenders using web cams can be held accountable.

"Parents are the most important people in protecting children from online predators," Gov. Lynch said. "However, we realize the Internet is becoming easier to access everyday and a child can access the Internet from just about anywhere - without parental supervision. With this legislation, we are both helping parents and taking another important step forward in making our state a safer place for all our children."

Senate Bill 495 is sponsored by Sens. Joe Foster, Bob Letourneau and Betsi DeVries; Reps. David Welch and William Knowles.