From left are commissioners Larry Jarboe and Dan Raley, and delegates Johnny Wood and Tony O’Donnell – The Bay Net photos by Sean Rice

 

St. Mary’s Commissioners and Southern Maryland legislators received 20 pleas this week for new state laws that would affect life in St. Mary’s County.

At the annual legislative proposals meeting Tuesday local officials considered the list of requests and will whittle it down to a smaller list to send to Annapolis for enactment during the next session.

Not many of the locally generated proposals make it through to law, particularly on the first try, and two of the four citizens who submitted proposals this year are giving it another chance after no progress this year.

Four citizens submitted seven proposals, with government and non-profit agencies submitting the remainder of requests.

Keith Harless of Lexington Park has two laws he is seeking regarding sex offender notification and one seeking background checks for volunteers in schools. Harless submitted similar proposals to the delegation last year.

The first sex offender proposal would require notification to schools if registered sex offenders reside within two miles of the campus. Harless said school workers can carry printouts and be on guard for predators.

He said 21 of St. Mary’s County’s schools have sex offenders living within two miles of a school.

Harless’ second proposal calls for mandatory background and sex offender checks for all employees and volunteers in public schools, not just teachers and other full time employees.

The final sex offender proposal from Harless would require local judges to rule that all convicted offenders are automatically added to the state sex offender registry.

Currently the law allows for “judicial discretion” when considering if convicted sexual offenders will be required to “register.” Harless said a couple convicted offenders in St. Mary’s County this year got off with no jail time and no sex offender registration.

“We’ve found in our own community here in St. Mary’s where that’s been done several times … a couple times this summer,” Harless said.

“As we discussed, the public safety office is putting out the sex offender list to try and provide the public with info,” he continued. “So we have one side trying to do the right thing and provide the public the information it needs to provide a safe environment and we have the judicial branch exercising its discretion and not providing the public with the information.”

Harless said one particular sex offender in St. Mary’s County was charged with molesting  a 10-year-old girl and faced maximum sentence of 25 years, but after bargaining received a suspended 5-year sentence and was specially exempt from registering as a convicted sex offender.

“That just seemed unfathomable that that would be occurring,” Harless said.

There are more than 100 known convicted sex offenders in St. Mary’s County.

Among Harless’s supporting facts, he said 1 in 5 girls and 1 in 6