My committee work was the subject of quite a bit of media attention as "sexting", the transmission by a text message of nude or indecent photographs drew media and public attention as we received S.125 from the Senate. Sexting seems to be popular among teens.

S.125 is a comprehensive Senate bill that addresses, in part, expansion of the Internet sex offender registry. My understanding is that in expanding the Internet sex offender registry, the Senate wanted to make sure that certain behavior, like "sexting" would not result in teens being of child pornography and put on the Internet registry, which has lifetime consequences. The Senate's created an age gap exception to the child pornography and certain other sex crimes involving minors when such behavior was done with consent and without force or coercion. Prosecutors and victims advocates who did not want minors on the sex offender registry, and hence supported the proposal. This in turn became interpreted as the Senate "legalizing sexting". This certainly is not my committee's intent. I do not believe it was the Senate's either.

I and two other committee members therefore drafted a proposal that will create a new crime that addresses the transmission of indecent photographs. The proposal would create a new offense that applies only to minors who send indecent photographs electronically. This new offense would be punishable, at the prosecutor's discretion, by either civil penalties, including diversion or criminal penalties to be handled through juvenile court. The retransmission of indecent photographs would remain a very serious offense, subject to existing charges, including stiffer penalties. Our hope is that with the prosecutor involved, parental and community intervention will take place and diversion and reparative boards will be used as a response so that teens can truly understand why this is risky, inappropriate and dangerous behavior.

I added a provision directing the sexual violence prevention task force to include in its education and outreach efforts for teens, parents and communities, information on why "sexting" is dangerous.

I feel very strongly that is important not only to establish a new offense, but to also make sure our teens, families and communities understand the risks involved in this behavior. I do not think teens truly understand the consequences of this behavior. The combination of increased education and legislation supports and strengthens our families while helping to keep our communities safer.

In a recent press release, I and committee members explained that: Our goal is to make it clear that sending indecent pictures is not acceptable behavior," but, we also want to ensure that parents are involved and that kids don't have a permanent criminal record or spend their life on the sex offender registry.

"This is a common sense proposal that reflects the realities of our changing world," said Rep. Flory. "Kids need to know that 'sexting' is an offense and they need to understand why the state considers it dangerous."

My whole committee supports this proposal, recognizing we still need to take testimony on it. We have initial support in concept from the state's attorneys and victims advocates.

We will be continuing our work on S.125. So far testimony by the executive directive of Vermont Crime Information Center stated that if we increase the internet registry to include the crimes we created earlier this year in response to the Bennett case and one listed in S.125, we will add another 1000 offenders to the 400 that are currently on the internet registry. Vermont has an underlying registry with 2500 offenders listed.

Sex offenders now go on the internet registry because they are repeat offenders, there is a warrant for their arrest, they are out of compliance with sex offender registry requirements or the department of corrections has deemed them a high risk to re-offend. Please note that what the public thinks is a high risk and the department does may differ. Mr. Jacques was not deemed high risk. We will continue to work on this bill and pass legislation further protecting our communities form sexual violence.

S.28 Prohibiting Profits from The Commission of A Crime. We passed this bill. It is of referred to as a "Son of Sam" law. It applies to property or income a defendant generated from the commission of a crime he or she was convicted of. It will go to the House for consideration.

H.147 Highway Safety. The House passed this bill on a vote of 104-42 that includes prohibitions on cell phones for junior operators, hands free only for adults, night time driving restrictions for junior operators and a primary seat belt law. It is currently the law to wear your seat belt, but an officer can only give you a ticket for not wearing your belt if he or she has stopped you for something else.

Cell phones have received a lot of public attention. Banning cell phones while driving and primary seat belt used received the most support after the need for broadband service on both last year and this year's Doyle Poll. 72% of Vermonters said yes to a cell phone ban while 19% said no and 9 were unsure. 79% said yes to a seatbelt law while 17% said no and 3% were unsure.

Last week, Bob Kinzel of Vermont Public Radio invited me be on Vermont Edition, a call in show on these issues. In a follow-up email, Bob stated:

" Thanks for being on Vermont Edition today - it was a great program. I wanted you to know that the telephone response was overwhelming - of the biggest responses the program has ever had!

We have 6 phone lines coming into VPR in Colchester and all 6 were busy from the moment I gave out the phone number. In addition, we got another 20 emails after the program - almost all of them were strongly supportive of the bill.

We got ten people on the air with calls and another 6 were waiting - of this group of 16, 13 were in favor of the bill and 3 were not! This seems to match the results of the Doyle Town Meeting Day survey."

Transportation Funds/ Town Aid

In the past few days there has been very legitimate concern about the town highway aid program funding. The House in the Budget Adjustment Act committed to making the towns whole for this year and next as well as increasing funding for 2010. The Senate cut the funding in the conference committee. The House will continue to advocate for its position and provide protection for our towns.

Please stay in touch. 828- 2228/496-4244 or maxjg@wcvt.com.