FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                           Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Contact: Senator Joseph Foster

(603) 271-2111

SENATE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE SUPPORTS ONLINE CHILD SAFETY ACT

CONCORD – The Senate Judiciary Committee voted 4-0 today to recommend passage by the full Senate of a bill to better protect children from online predators and child pornographers.

The Online Child Safety Act, or Senate Bill 495, is sponsored by Senator Joseph Foster (D-Nashua), who worked with Governor John Lynch and Attorney General Kelly Ayotte, to modernize and strengthen the state’s laws covering Internet solicitation of children, child pornography and indecent exposure via new technologies such as web cams.

“This updates our laws to reflect the dangers posed by the Internet. It gives law enforcement the tools it needs to help protect our children from sexual predators online and to better restrict the creation, distribution and possession of child pornography,” Foster said.

The legislation builds on the Child Protection Act passed in 2006, which also was sponsored by Senator Foster. Numerous law enforcement officers, including police, county prosecutors and the state Attorney General support the legislation.

Senate Bill 495 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 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.