The three senators and three representatives responsible for crafting the compromise bill met sporadically throughout the day and into the evening, hoping to find a solution by midnight so that members can approve the popular bill today. The lawmakers must not only satisfy their constituents, many of whom are clamoring for a law that will allow parents to identify sex offenders. They also have the tricky task of crafting a measure that balances the demands of federal law and the state's high court. As proposals flew back and forth across Beacon Hill last night, sources said the sticking point was the House's insistence on giving judges the power to require registration as part of a sex offender's sentence. The House bill would also create a full-time Sex Offender Registry Board to deal with the massive backlog of cases.
Federal law requires all sex offenders to register with police when they get out of jail.
Cellucci last week urged lawmakers to pass the bill before the deadline. In order to have any hope of meeting the Sunday deadline, the House and Senate must agree on a final bill and pass it today. But even that is not a sure thing - if there are constitutional questions, Cellucci won't sign the bill, said an administration source. Both the House and Senate approved sex offender registry bills early this summer but the conference committee to reconcile the two versions only began to meet last week. Under that plan sex offenders would be required to register by mail but wouldn't have their names, photographs or fingerprints forwarded to local police until after a hearing.