mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman from georgia for yielding me this time . 
as the person who represents the area that jessica lunsford grew up in and knowing her family very , very well , all of america was focused on jessica when she turned up missing . 
then we found out that she was the victim of a predator , a very , very sick , depraved man . 
jessica is no longer with us ; and i commend the members of congress , including yourself , mr. speaker , with whom i have worked very closely , and certainly the gentleman from wisconsin ( mr. sensenbrenner ) xz4003650 , the chairman of the committee on the judiciary , in putting together the children 's safety act . 
no parent should worry when their child is at a playground whether or not a sexual predator is nearby . 
there were many loopholes in the various state laws in jessica 's case . 
the perpetrator came into florida from georgia . 
he registered at one point but then transferred his address . 
the probation officer never knew that he had a prior offense of violating children . 
had that probation officer known that , he never would have allowed the offender anywhere near a school . 
that is but one of the very excellent facets of this bill in addition to having the nationwide registration and availability on line so that parents , so that grandparents , so that anyone can go and find out who the offenders are in their neighborhood so that every family member can have a modicum of safety in knowing who is nearby . 
it also , as i mentioned , does allow for probation officers to know about a prior offense . 
now , why is that important ? 
i firmly believe , mr. speaker , that jessica lunsford would be here today had the probation officer known that . 
additionally , the bill also picks up on some language that i had in the jessica lunsford act , and part of this bill is named after her , that provides for more frequent contacts , a mailing or random mailings to the sexual offenders so that they have to report . 
if the mailer is not returned , if they do not fill out the form and send it back , at that point police will be alerted to be on the lookout for them because they are not at their last known address . 
with all of the various facets of the bill , many members who are concerned , who have lost children to these offenders , to these violators of our most innocent children , every single member who put a bill in and those who signed on as cosponsors realize the importance of protecting our streets , of protecting our families , of protecting our children from these lowlifes who prey on our most innocent young children . 
i certainly support the bill . 
i want to make sure that the rule is adopted so we can go on , pass this bill , send it over to the senate ; and , hopefully , they , too , will see the need , the absolute imperative need that america has in demanding that this bill pass so that our children will be protected . 
