The state Senate has passed a bill that would increase prison sentences for guardians and school employees convicted of child sex offenses in school safety zones.
Those are the areas within 300 feet of campus grounds, buses and stops, or any public property within a thousand feet of a school.
Democratic Sen. Mitzi Epstein says the bill does not take into account whether a person takes a child out of a safety zone.
"My reason for speaking is just to speak to how terribly important it is to consider the unintended consequences when we work and develop bills like this," Epstein said.
The bill, which would increase sentences by five years for offenders, now goes back to the House of Representatives.
